Bloody Mary: A Graphic Biography of Mary Tudor

An elegant, intimate graphic novel retelling of Mary "the Bloody" Tudor's infamous life and evolution from loyal subject to royal tyrant.

The story of Mary Tudor -- oldest child and daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, sister to the famous Elizabeth I -- as never told before.

A chronological telling of Mary's life as "told" by her spans her magnificent life, starting from her "first memory" at the age of two to becoming the first queen to inherit the throne of an England in disarray. Once rejected at birth, Mary was certain the cause of suffering was her subjects' rejection of the one true faith: Catholicism. Her zealous campaign to re-Catholicize England was unrelenting in its brutality, re-christening her, "Mary, the Bloody."
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The Tudors famously used fine art to define their reign. Using expressive line work and lush watercolor, German graphic novelist fittingly teases the painterly allure of royalty as she reveals the stark loneliness of the crown. Gehrmann pulls from real quotes from historical documents and letters along with dramatizations of known historic events. These details immerse us in Mary I's epic life from her volatile childhood to her tragic demise, rendering a stunning portrait of a "bastard queen" losing her grip on power.

Author: Kristina Gehrmann
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Published: 07/15/2025
Pages: 336
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 2.00lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.10w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9798881600266


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 07/21/2025
Booklist 08/25/2025

About the Author
Kristina Gehrmann is an illustrator and graphic novelist, exploring historical and fantasy subjects in a detailed painterly style. Her preferred tools are a Wacom tablet and Photoshop, and her clients are book publishers. Her graphic novel/comic debut Im Eisland tells the story of the lost Franklin Expedition in a trilogy of three comics, the first of which won the German Children's Literature Award in 2016. She is deaf since birth, and currently lives in Hamburg, Germany, with her husband.