Stranger than Fiction

The book I read for the 2022 NONFICTION READER CHALLENGE in the category Published in 2022 is Queens: Women in Power Through History by Phyllis G. Jestice, 2022 . I have always been interested in biographies, especially of women who were unusual for their time. Unfortunately, women in power have been unusual throughout time, and there is not much information available about most of those who became rulers. So this book seemed like a treasure trove for me. Although this book does not give much information about the lives of these women, it includes many examples, from Europe, Africa, Asia and South America. And there is an interesting focus on how and why these women became queens, and what their rule was like. The “Queens” referred to in the book were not necessarily queens, but were in some way a ruler for a period of time. For example, some women who were married to rulers were able to wield power because their husbands consulted them or were unable to rule themselves. Some wo