Surprise appearances

I didn’t expect any real-life historic figures to pop into the chilling dystopian novel I just read. Imagine my surprise and delight when three people (who overlapped with my last two books!) made cameos:

The three surprising cameos:

1. Franklin D. Roosevelt

2. Mary, Queen of Scots

3. Queen Victoria

The three books:

1. Becoming Queen Victoria: The Unexpected Rise of Britain's Greatest Monarch, by Kate Williams

2. Same Bed Different Dreams, by Ed Park

3. The Testaments, by Margaret Atwood
   (the sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale)

FDR

• Wasn’t in Becoming Queen Victoria, but he did appear in my latest POTUS Notice, which was inspired by the book. (Scroll nearly to the bottom.)

• Popped up in Same Bed Different Dreams, but then again… so did many presidents. It was a POTUS treasure trove. See?

• Mentioned (along with Campobello) in The Testaments!

Mary, Queen of Scots

• Appeared in Becoming Queen Victoria (not super-shocking) and The Testaments.

• I’ve learned enough about her to realize I know nothing about her but also that I want to fix that.

Queen Victoria

• Obviously, the main character in Becoming Queen Victoria.

• Passing mention in The Testaments.

• Wasn’t explicitly mentioned in Same Bed Different Dreams... but there were some tie-ins. (Scroll nearly to the bottom of this post if you’re curious.)

Note: while I definitely recommend The Testaments and also always love unexpected cameos, I appreciated them even more this time… the anticipation of doodling was a nice palate cleanser after such a heavy book.

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Want to see doodles inspired by these books? Click the images below.

Same Bed Different Dreams doodles

Becoming Queen Victora doodles

(And if you’re as into unexpected appearances as I am, you can find more cameos here.)