Warden of the Queen's March — Nigel Tranter

Only eighteen years old when she returned to Scotland to rule, the beautiful but unfortunate Mary Stuart was in dire need of protection: from the savage religious intolerance of the time, from scoundrels in high places, even from the men she injudiciously married.

While John Knox, the Regent Moray, Lord Darnley, the Earl of Bothwell, David Rizzio and England's Elizabeth I plotted and schemed, one man remained constant to his Queen. A loyal young Border laird, Thomas Kerr of Ferniehirst, struggled to protect Mary, Queen of Scots throughout her troubled reign. But even he could not prevent the tragedy that lay in wait.

'Through his imaginative dialogue, he provides a voice for Scotland's heroes' Scotland on Sunday