Her gender identity and sexual identity have been heavily, heavily, heavily discussed in the four centuries or so since her death, and there’s a couple intriguing hints here but nothing major either way. Kristina is one of the most fascinating people in European history-raised to be a king, abdicated her throne at only twenty-eight and converted to Catholicism, traveled Europe extensively, and then died and was buried at the Vatican. Maybe I just have very little patience! That’s true, but I’m not sure if it’s relevant here. Her book on Anastasia is exactly the same way. This is actually the same problem I have with a lot of Carolyn Meyer’s heroines, where they’re so obviously intended to be. Kristina: The Girl King, Sweden, 1638, Carolyn Meyer, 2003. Reading this book is like an extremely frustrating exercise where you really, really, really want to like the protagonist but you can’t because she’s written so terribly unsympathetically you could cry.
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