6 h 38 minAudiobook16 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a crown gives you power over a kingdom, but little freedom over your own life?
In seventeenth-century Sweden, Queen Christina inherits the throne as a child after the death of her father, King Gustavus Adolphus. In Queen Moi-Même, Elisabeth Kuylenstierna-Wenster places her between royal duty and personal independence. Her kingdom holds a powerful place in European affairs, and her choices carry weight beyond herself.
Christina hungers for learning and freedom, challenging what her court expects a queen to be. Philosophy, scholars, and the arts draw her interest, while marriage raises questions of succession, alliances, and stable government. The novel explores a sharp conflict: how can a woman with such power choose a life of her own?
What you’ll discover
- A crown that confines Explore the tension between Christina’s extraordinary privileges and the narrow choices her rank allows.
- A mind seeking freedom Meet a queen whose love of learning challenges the role her court expects.
- Marriage as a state concern Consider how a monarch’s private life becomes a question of alliances and succession.
- Learning beside royal duty Discover Christina’s interest in philosophy and her support for scholars and the arts.
- The cost of expectations Face a question beyond royal life: how much of yourself must you surrender?
Who will love it
Readers who love royal courts, strong-willed heroines and Swedish history will feel at home here. It suits anyone drawn to the Baltic world of the 1600s, to scholars and favorites, and to a queen who wants a life of her own.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A daughter arrives where a prince was awaited
- A six year old queen learns her duty
- A mourning land and a fight over her upbringing
- A young queen and her handsome favorite
- A queen between love, pride and the chancellor
- Bark bread, broken promises and a plan to be free
- Märta, Arnold and the pamphlet that burns
- A court of favorites, a tailor in a nobleman's coat
- What the story is about and how it is told
Who’s who
- KristinaDaughter of Gustavus Adolphus, queen of Sweden from the age of six, brilliant and proud, who longs to be free of her crown.
- Axel OxenstiernaThe old lord high chancellor, loyal to her father's memory, who guides the kingdom and keeps warning the queen she may not heed.
- Magnus Gabriel De la GardieA polished young count, educated in France, who rises as the queen's favorite and wants to stay at her side.
- Maria EleonoraThe queen's mother, a fragile and jealous widow who first rejects the daughter she did not expect and later loves her deeply.
- Katarina, Countess PalatineThe king's gentle sister, who raises little Kristina with warmth and tries to teach her self-discipline.
- Ebba BraheThe late king's youthful love and Magnus's mother, who fights to keep her son in royal favor.
- Karl GustafKristina's cousin and chosen heir, patient and cheerful, who waits near the throne.
- MärtaA pastor's beautiful daughter who longs to see the court and treats a young man's love as a way to rise.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 6 h 38 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 16 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Read and hear Königin Moi-Même in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Königin Moi-Même
by Elisabeth Kuylenstierna-Wenster
A girl born hairy and mistaken for a boy grows into Queen Kristina, who dreams of laying down her crown.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Queen Moi-Même is a historical novel by the Swedish writer Elisabeth Kuylenstierna-Wenster, who died in 1933. It follows Kristina, the daughter of King Gustavus Adolphus, from her birth in 1626 through the years of her reign.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A daughter arrives where a prince was awaited
The novel opens in December 1626, on a raw evening in Stockholm. Two noblewomen, the stern Countess Ebba Leijonhufvud and the timid Lady Anna Bååt, ride in a jolting carriage to the royal palace. They have been summoned because Queen Maria Eleonora is about to give birth, and everyone expects a boy. Their talk is full of the Livonian estates, sick children and the king's trembling illness.
In the antechamber the court ladies wait among dwarfs, fools and astrologers. The learned men watch a clock and the stars, and one of them says that if the child lives a day, something great will come of it. Then cheers break out for a prince. A moment later the joy dies, because the midwives have made a mistake and the baby is a girl, born with a caul over her small body and covered in dark hair.
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What is Queen Moi-Même about?
It is a historical novel about Queen Kristina of Sweden, from her birth in 1626 through her reign, her favorites, her quarrels with the chancellor and her wish to give up the crown and live freely.
Who is Queen Moi-Même in the novel?
She is Kristina, daughter of Gustavus Adolphus. The title suggests a queen of herself, someone who insists on being her own adviser and who longs for a life that belongs entirely to her.
Is Queen Moi-Même a true story?
It is a novel built on real history. Kristina, Oxenstierna, Magnus De la Gardie, Bourdelot, Pimentelli and Whitelocke were real people, while some smaller figures and many private scenes are imagined by the author.
The author
Elisabeth Kuylenstierna-Wenster
1869–1933 · Swedish writer and translator
Elisabeth Kuylenstierna-Wenster was a Swedish writer and translator who lived from 1869 to 1933. She lived and worked in Sweden. She wrote fiction and translated books into Swedish. Her career took place in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
More by Elisabeth Kuylenstierna-Wenster
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