Amazon.com
In the past, Antonia Fraser's bestselling histories and biographies have focused on people and events in her native England, from Mary Queen of Scots to Faith and Treason: The Story of the Gunpowder Plot. Now she crosses the Channel to limn the life of France's unhappiest queen, bringing along her gift for fluent storytelling, vivid characterization, and evocative historical background. Marie Antoinette (1755-93) emerges in Fraser's sympathetic portrait as a goodhearted girl woefully undereducated and poorly prepared for the dynastic political intrigues into which she was thrust at age 14, when her mother, Empress Maria Theresa, married her off to the future Louis XVI to further Austria's interests in France. Far from being the licentious monster later depicted by the radicals who sent her to the guillotine at the height of the French Revolution, young Marie Antoinette was quite prudish, as well as thoroughly humiliated by her husband's widely known failure to have complete intercourse with her for seven long years (the gory details were reported to any number of concerned royal parties, including her mother and brother). She compensated by spending lavishly on clothes and palaces, but Fraser points out that this hardly made her unique among 18th-century royalty, and in any case the causes of the Revolution went far beyond one woman's frivolities. The moving final chapters show Marie Antoinette gaining in dignity and courage as the Revolution stripped her of everything, subjected her to horrific brutalities (a mob paraded the head of her closest female friend on a pike below her window), and eventually took her life. Fraser makes no attempt to hide the queen's shortcomings, in particular her poor political skills, but focuses on her personal warmth and noble bearing during her final ordeal. It's another fine piece of popular historical biography to add to Fraser's already impressive bibliography. --Wendy Smith
Book Description
France's iconic queen, Marie Antoinette, wrongly accused of uttering the infamous "Let them eat cake," was alternately revered and reviled during her lifetime. For centuries since, she has been the object of debate, speculation, and the fascination so often accorded illustrious figures in history. Married in mere girlhood, this essentially lighthearted child was thrust onto the royal stage and commanded by circumstance to play a significant role in European history. Antonia Fraser's lavish and engaging portrait excites compassion and regard for all aspects of the queen, immersing the reader not only in the coming-of-age of a graceful woman, but in the culture of an unparalleled time and place.
Customer Reviews:
A Gripping Royal Life.......2007-08-29
Light on analysis and heavy on chronicling, MATJ efficiently and often movingly recounts a notorious chapter in history. AF does a fine job of evoking life in a European court in general, and in the times of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI in particular. She treats her subject objectively, though with a reasonable measure of implicit sympathy. The Antoinette depicted in MATJ is far more nuanced a figure than the one many of us were first introduced to in public school history lessons. Though not without flaws, Marie Antoinette emerges in MATJ as no more flawed a person than most -- a product and a victim of circumstances that were largely of others' making. MATJ is particulary affecting in its treatment of the Terror, the collapse of the French monarchy, and Marie Antoinette's ultimate fate -- a fate as brutal as one can imagine. As a history of the Terror and the French Revolution, MATJ falls short. But it does not purport to be a broader work of historical synthesis or analysis. It hews closely to its subject -- the queen whose life intersected, tragically, with enormous national and world-historical events. In doing so, it offers a full and affecting portrait of one of history's most compelling figures.
Engrossing from beginning to end.......2007-08-09
"Marie Antoinette: The Journey" was my first experience with the work of Lady Antonia Fraser. Having read many biographies of famous British historical figures, I noticed that her name always seemed to crop up in various authors' "Acknowledgements" or bibliographies. In fact, the point at which I first recall reading her name was in reviews for John Guy's "Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart". My interest piqued, I ordered a copy of "Marie Antoinette" to test the waters of an author whose scholarship and style was, it seemed to me, almost universally respected. And I can safely say that I've never been more pleased with the outcome of an experiment.
Antonia Fraser's sparklingly eloquent and witty writing style lends itself perfectly to the glamorous story of the ultimately tragic French queen. What I appreciated most about the narrative (aside from its seamless fluidity) was the lack, thankfully, of shameless allusions to the subject's eventual disastrous fate. Lady Antonia stated in the introduction to her biography that she would endeavor to present Marie Antoinette's tale `without the perils of hindsight' (her words, although not in the introduction), as most authors I'm sure would have been prone to do. Despite the fact that I was aware of Marie Antoinette's death going in, I had little knowledge of the reasons for it.
And thusly I come to another brilliant aspect of this biography: the sound and thorough description of events leading, not only to Marie Antoinette's beheading, but the French Revolution itself. Obviously, Antonia Fraser's intention in presenting the queen's story was not to simultaneously provide the reader with an exhaustive analysis of the Revolution (for that, many would recommend Simon Schama's "Citizens"); so with that said, I found the author's breakdown of the events occurring throughout Marie Antoinette's adopted country entirely satisfying within the confines of a biography.
This is one of the few biographies in which I was so sufficiently engrossed by the story that I gradually disregarded my previous knowledge of how the story ends. So swept along was I by the narrative's current that I actually harbored quiet hope for the queen's rescue from the Conciergerie, where she was incarcerated prior to her execution. As a result, I was crushed when Marie Antoinette met her gruesome death. Such unquestioning absorption is, in my opinion, the mark of any quality biography, when coupled with an objective and engaging presentation of facts that envelopes you in the world of its subject. "Marie Antoinette: The Journey" shines vividly in that regard and many others.
Elizabeth Longford, Antonia Fraser's mother and a highly-respected biographer, stated in a later-edition introduction to her masterful "Victoria R. I." that the word `definitive', in describing biographical works, is meaningless. Various authors studying the same subject may interpret facts and events quite differently. Having never read another biography of Marie Antoinette, I cannot rightly speak of Lady Antonia's book as being the essential source for information. But based upon my own experience with it, and those of most other reviewers, I would wager that this is the best possible place to start.
A sympathetic biography of a much maligned queen.......2007-07-12
Always the victim of fate and controlled by external powers, Marie Antoinette warmed to her roles well. From her idyllic childhood in Austria to her life as a princess (the Dauphine) in France during her adolescence to her extravagant Queenship in Versailles and Petit Trianon to her staid motherhood and finally to her untimely death at the hands of the Jacobins, Marie Antoinette filled her role with grace and dignity. Fraser brings us a portrait of Marie Antoinette as she certainly would have liked to have been remembered rather than the villainous harpy she was portrayed as during her life and beyond.
Starting, as any biography of Marie Antoinette must, in Austria under the reign of Maria Teresa, the book proceeds to describe life in the Empress' household and the various intrigues therein. The book tries not to miss any significant points along the way, but the book soon moves to the marriage of Marie to the young French Dauphin Louis XVI. From there, the life and political machinations of the courtiers and Marie among them are highlighted. Fraser sometimes seems to get lost recalling all the courtiers and their significances, but Marie is always kept as the central figure. Through this storytelling the reader watches a young woman grow up, sometimes under bad influences, but mostly under the watchful eyes of responsible advisors.
There is quite a bit of focus on Marie and Louis' failure to consummate their marriage, with the lightness of the King's attitude towards the Prince (Louis) in sharp contrast to the heavy yoke of responsibility laid on the Prince by Marie's brother the Emperor Joseph. In time, the married couple figure out their roles and they give birth to the first Dauphin.
What stands out about Fraser's prose is her ability to evoke great joy in the reader, as well as great sadness. She gives the joy of the royal family at the birth of their first child directly to the reader. Likewise, when the Dauphin, a sickly child, dies at a young age, Fraser pulls no punches and the sadness of the royal family is also felt by the reader.
Naturally, the book goes on to cover the rule of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette as she oversees her hobbies and children. The attempted escape, called the flight to Varennes, is well covered and Fraser does a good job of bringing out the tension and suspense of the incident. The recounting of this event reads very much like fiction, though the events are very real. Finally, the book wraps up with the incarceration and execution of the royal family at the hands of the French revolutionaries.
The inclusion of paintings and photographs of important people and places makes the book all the more enjoyable. From the cute portrait of the Austrian imperial family to the sketch of Marie Antoinette on her way to the guillotine, each picture frames the period discussed so well that the reader's imagination is free to explore the world of 18th century France and Austria.
Fraser's book is an easy, if long, read, but it is enjoyable and reads very much like fiction rather than a dry biography. The only places it lags are when the number of characters gets too unwieldy or when Fraser tries to explain the bloodline relationships between various courtiers. I think anyone wanting to get a solid background on the life of Marie Antoinette would welcome this book to their library.
Amazing Biography.......2007-07-08
This is an awesome book, written on such an intriguing person in history. Marie Antoinette has gotten a bad rap throughout the years, the whole French revolution has been blamed on her, which is wrong. There are MANY MANY reasons why the revolution happened, and many don't have anything to do with her. It's a great book and the movie by S. Coppolla is also great (if you liked Clueless, you'd like this because it has an innocent air to it). The Marie Antionette in this book comes off a little more sympathetic because the reader is able to see how young and vulnerable she was. We must remember she became Queen of France at such a young, immature age and it's no wonder she had all those lavish parties. This is a great book by a great author and I highly recommend it.
A Well Told Biography.......2007-06-16
Ms. Fraser is a well known author of historical biographies. She does her research and manages to be fair in all things when it comes to delving in past lives that have touched the world. Her attempt at penning Marie Antoinette's story is well done, fair, and shows the world a different young woman that is often portrayed in historical films.
Beginning at the young archduchess start in life to her horrid end, we travel beside this young woman, learning what she had to endure and seeing her in a way not always portrayed. With plenty of historic facts, color pictures the author has penned a fair biography that will give the reader insight into a much misunderstood woman. This is one book I highly recommend.
Book Description
Marie Antoinette has always stood as an icon of supreme style, but surprisingly none of her biographers have paid sustained attention to her clothes. In Queen of Fashion, Caroline Weber shows how Marie Antoinette developed her reputation for fashionable excess, and explains through lively, illuminating new research the political controversies that her clothing provoked. Weber surveys Marie Antoinettes "Revolution in Dress," covering each phase of the queens tumultuous life, beginning with the young girl, struggling to survive Versailless rigid traditions of royal glamour (twelve-foot-wide hoopskirts, whalebone corsets that crushed her organs). As queen, Marie Antoinette used stunning, often extreme costumes to project an image of power and wage war against her enemies. Gradually, however, she began to lose her hold on the French when she started to adopt "unqueenly" outfits (the provocative chemise) that, surprisingly, would be adopted by the revolutionaries who executed her. Webers queen is sublime, human, and surprising: a sometimes courageous monarch unwilling to allow others to determine her destiny. The paradox of her tragic story, according to Weber, is that fashion -- the vehicle she used to secure her triumphs -- was also the means of her undoing. Webers book is not only a stylish and original addition to Marie Antoinette scholarship, but also a moving, revelatory reinterpretation of one of historys most controversial figures.
Customer Reviews:
Not sure whether it wants to be a biography or fashion.......2007-08-27
I found queen of fashion to be not enough queen and not enough fashion. It pairs a less than adequate biography of Marie Antionette with a smattering of observations on how her fashion choices both represented her role as well as influenced events around her.
What I found problematic was that the fashion highlights jumped around in terms of time periods. There would be a detailed explanation of a time, then a gap of several years before another touching base. I'm not sure if this was due to a lack of source material for the intervening period, but it made for very choppy reading.
If you've read a lot on Marie Antionette, you can skim this to pick up the fashion pieces. If you haven't read a lot about her, pick up another biography first.
This might have worked better as a series of essays than as an overall biography.
Disappointing -- 2&1/2 stars.
what a great read.......2007-07-26
So I picked this up just because the title intrigued me and what a pleasant suprise! It is very readable, interesting and balanced. You won't regret this purchase.
Queen of Fashion.......2007-06-29
I've found that if you want to get a really good feel for the history of a period, read something like this book that concentrates on some interesting aspect of a major figure. An example (besides this well written book) is A Scented Palace by DeFeydeau, which also has amazing insights and stories that you never read in more biographical type treatments. For instance, an anecdote in this book about how Marie Antionette gave her jeweled fan to a pretty village girl, that I never heard anywhere else, really colors the way I now perceive her. But it's an astonishingly "like-you-are-there" inside look at life at Versailles during a (or the) most interesting period in it's history...
queen of fashion.......2007-06-27
I haven't got a chance to read the entire book yet but it is very good and interesting. It is especially useful if you are a Marie Antoinette fanatic or history buff. This was a package that got lost in shipping and It only took one day to get a replacement one. I was surprised at how fast the costumer service was and very pleased.
Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution.......2007-06-04
This is a well-researched, engaging, and poignant read. When is Weber's next book coming out?! I'll purchase for sure.
Book Description
"Like everyone, I am born naked."
With this opening line of Naslund's compelling new novel, a very human Marie Antoinette invites readers to live her story as she herself experiences it. From the lush gardens of Versailles to the lights and gaiety of Paris, the verdant countryside of France, and finally the stark and terrifying isolation of a prison cell, the young queen's life is joyful, poignant, and harrowing by turns. As her world of unprecedented royal splendor crumbles, the charming Marie Antoinette matures into a heroine of inspiring stature, one whose nobility arises not from the circumstance of her birth but from her courageous spirit.
Marie Antoinette was a child of fourteen when her mother, the Empress of Austria, arranged for her to leave her family and her country to become the wife of the fifteen-year-old Dauphin, the future King of France. Coming of age in the most public of arenas, the young queen embraces her new family and the French people, and she is embraced in return. Eager to be a good wife and strong queen, she shows her new husband nothing but love and encouragement, though he repeatedly fails to consummate their marriage and in doing so, fails to give her the thing she—and the people of France—desire most: a child and an heir to the throne.
Deeply disappointed and isolated in her own intimate circle apart from the social life of the court, the queen allows herself to remain ignorant of the country's growing economic and political crises. She entrusts her soul to her women friends, her music teacher, her hairdresser, the ambassador from Austria, and a certain Swedish count so handsome that admirers label him "the Picture." When her innocent and well-chaperoned pilgrimage to watch the sun rise is viciously misrepresented in satiric pamphlets as a drunken orgy, the people begin to turn against her. Poor harvests, bitter winters, war debts, and poverty precipitate rebellion and revenge as the royal family and many nobles are caught up in a murderous time known as "the Terror."
With penetrant insight into new historical scholarship and with wondrous narrative skill, Naslund offers an intimate, fresh, and dramatic re-creation of this compelling woman that goes beyond popular myth. Abundance reveals a compassionate and spontaneous Marie Antoinette who rejected the formality and rigid protocol of the court; an enchanting and tenderhearted outsider who was loved by her adopted homeland and people until she became the target of revolutionary cruelty and violence; a dethroned queen whose depth of character sustained her in even the worst of times.
Once again, Sena Jeter Naslund has shed new light on an important moment of historical change and made that time as real to us as the one we are living now. Exquisitely detailed, beautifully written, heartbreaking and powerful, Abundance is a novel that is impossible to put down.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent.......2007-10-13
Item was received in the specified amount of time and the item was as it was described.
Riveting!.......2007-10-09
I am an avid reader, and I love all Seda's books. Abundance had me hooked from the first line to the last. Beautifully written, each word was delicious! I couldn't put it down. I read Ahab's Wife with the same feeling of relief that there are still writers willing to seduce the reader with glorious words. I can hardly wait for more.
An Excruciating Effort in Tedium.......2007-10-03
How is it possible that there can be such diverse opinions on one book? It must be the reader...
And let me be the first to say that I am a very harsh critic. I don't adore everything I read and what satisfies me most is when an author gives the reader insight into a character's emotions.
Although Sena Jeter Naslund constructs beautiful sentences throughout this fictionalization of the life of Marie Antoinette she's certainly no storyteller.
I found this novel to be exactly how I remember history class, beyond boring. There is no life in these historical figures, the story is told only through the unfolding of historical facts. And it is a painfully long, 545 pages. My only pleasure is that I borrowed it from the library rather than wasting my money on a copy of my own.
If you are looking for a novelization of the life of Marie Antoinette, I would recommend The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette by Carolly Erickson.
While you would have to suspend belief that such an account could exist, a hidden diary that details her life for nearly twenty years, you will be rewarded with insights into her heart and the deep feelings she has for her family and the people she loves.
Abundance- A Story of Marie Antoinette.......2007-09-21
This was an excellent read! There is evidence of lots of research in the retelling of the story. It begins when Marie is fourteen and on her way to marry Prince Louis. Through actual letters written to her mother in Austria, you are told about her inner feelings and frustration at not having her marriage consumated! It brings the French Revolution to life. You are able to see all the squandor, the poverty, the grandour, the arts, hear the music and smell the city. If you enjoy Historical Fiction, put this book on your list.
Mindless Drivel.......2007-07-31
Ms. Naslund has done the impossible - she's made Marie Antoinette boring! She is portrayed as floating aimlessly through her life while thinking kindly, flowery thoughts about everything from her handkerchief (which has too much lace and not enough fabric to blow her nose on) to her little plum colored shoes (that served her so well.) I promise you, when Marie Anotinette was standing on the scaffold, she was NOT trying to decide if the color of light is "more silvery or gold". By the end of this book I was ready to put my own head in the guillotine just to stop the pain.
If you want exceptional research and well-written biography, read Antonia Fraser's "Marie Antoinette: The Journey". If you want page-turning historical fiction, try Victoria Holt's "The Queen's Confessions".
Average customer rating:
- Another Great Royal Diaries Book.
- Detailed Summary Of Marie Antoinette
- Marie Antoinette
- The Great Review of the book Marie Antoinette
- A Marie Antoinette Book Review
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Marie Antoinette: Princess of Versailles, Austria-France, 1769 (The Royal Diaries)
Kathryn Lasky
Manufacturer: Scholastic Inc.
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ASIN: 0439076668 |
Amazon.com
"I look up now into the oval mirror and see barely a trace of the mud-splattered girl tearing through the woodland on her horse, or the barefoot girl wading at Schonbrunn... I have become what Mama set out for me to be. Majestic. A Dauphine and eventually a Queen."
So writes the headstrong 13-year-old Maria Antonia--future Queen of France--in her diary on October 23, 1769. In this engrossing addition to the Royal Diaries series (Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor, Cleopatra VII: Daughter of the Nile), Kathryn Lasky invents a diary of the young Marie Antoinette in 1769--the year she is to be married off to Dauphin Louis Auguste, eldest grandson of the French king Louis XV. Arranged marriages were common in that day and age--as the Empress Theresa (of the Holy Roman Empire of the Germanic Nations) sought to consolidate power among nations by marrying off her children. Thus, the future of Austria and France falls upon Maria Antonia's young shoulders.
To prepare her for this awesome responsibility, she must be trained to write, read, speak French, dress, act... even breathe. Things get even more grim as she is shipped off to the court of Versailles and introduced to her puffy, awkward future husband and confronted with the court's ridiculous customs. Marie--an opinionated and insightful young woman--mocks the court of "impeccable etiquette and manners" that makes up nasty rhymes about those they hate, but panics when her hair is mussed. Lasky has done an excellent job of creating a very human character in the young Marie Antoinette--one whom young readers will want to learn more about. Fortunately, her story is given plenty of context with an epilogue describing the history of the young Queen after 1769, a historical note offering an 18th-century context, a Habsburg-Bourbon family tree, and various portraits of the royal family. (Ages 9 to 13) --Karin Snelson
Book Description
Maria Antonia of Vienna has her whole life mapped out ahead of her. She is to marry Dauphin Louis Auguste, eldest grandson of King Louis XV. As his wife, she will be called Marie Antoinette, and will be the highest princess of France. Upon the death of the King, she will become Queen Marie Antoinette. But she dreads both new roles. I am just thirteen...I am not yet ready to be a dauphine, let alone Queen, she writes
Customer Reviews:
Another Great Royal Diaries Book. .......2007-04-29
This royal diaries book starts out in Vienna, Austria January 1, 1769. The book continues while Marie Antoina (Marie Antoinette) goes from an Archduchess in Austria to a Dauphine in France. Marie Antoina becomes Marie Antoinette when she marries Louis Auguste. This book kept me entertained from the first page. When Marie Antoinette first arrives in France she is told to leave everthing Austrian behind and she feels alone. She encounters Madame du Barry, King Louis XV's mistress and ends when she makes up her mind to talk to du Barry after ignoring her for a while in the book. The Epilogue finishes up Marie Antoinette's life in a few pages and a brief description. A Historical Note explains how the world was changing and calling for revolution. A family tree that includes the Habsburg-Bourbon family tree with descriptions of Marie Antoinette's parents, husband and children. There are pictures in the last pages too of Marie Antoina, Antoina's mother, Antoina and her children, castles, and du Barry. There is also 2 and a half pages about the author.
Detailed Summary Of Marie Antoinette.......2007-03-15
This book was written based off of the diary of Marie Antoinette. When she is given a diary, she doesn't know at first what to write in it. She just writes her daily chores down & what she's done that day. She is born as the daughter of Empress Maria Theresa as Maria Antonia. Her mother is a very strict person who likes things done her own way. As custom, Maria Antonia is 13 & awaiting to find out who she will marry. Her mother picks out her husband just as she had done for her 3 sisters before her. She is only allowed to marry royalty because her mother needs allies for Austria. Years before, a ruler from another country had seized power of land that had belonged to her family. Ever since then, her mother had been making allies to take the land that she rightfully owned back. Unfortunately for her mother, Maria Antonia is a very headstrong young girl. She, also, knows what she wants & won't stop until she gets it. She obeys her mother but similtaneously listens to her wilder side. When she is told she is to marry the prince of France & live in Versailles, she isn't quite sure of what to think. She expects him to be a very handsome prince because his grandfather was. She spent months getting ready for the court of Versailles. The rules & manors are very different. This once independent girl has to learn how to let everyone else do everything for her. She isn't even allowed to give herself a bath. She doesn't adjust very well either. She believes that the manors are completely pointless. She doesn't understand why it is that in Versailles, belching at the table is considered polite. She also must change her name to Marie Antoinette to sound more French. The rules are almost opposite from her home. The worst part about her trip is that she cannot take anyone with her except for her dog. Her little dog will be her only companion as she leaves her home to join her awaiting new family & husband. When she gets there, Louis, the prince, is not exactly her idea of a fairytale prince. He's quite overweight, very shy, & has very bad acne on his face. For the first few weeks, he barely speaks to her. He is very sweet but she wants to get to know him better. She decides that if they are going to talk, she's going to have to start the conversations until he gets used to her better. She does, however, make friends with his aunts who aren't too much older than they are. She finds out a lot of important court information from them. Soon, she learns of a secret room in her apartments that had been used by previous princesses to get away from the constant media. When she wants time to herself, she can go in there. She talks to Louis about it & he has it decorated for her. Eventually, they warm up to each other & get to know each other better. When they don't share interests in a particular subject, they still support the other one & watch them anyways. They both teach each other a lot & do grow to like each other. Marie Antoinette knows that she will never truly love him but because they cannot divorse, they are at least good friends. They live a very good adolescent life together. The book stops a few years after their wedding. It doesn't go into her adult life at all but knowing about her childhood, I believe that she led a very independent lifestyle & probably changed some things about the Versailles manors when she became queen. This book was excellent & a good way to learn about history & a very important French ruler.
Marie Antoinette.......2007-03-08
I personally thing that this was a very good book. I think it had a lot of good morals, and is apropriate for any age. I would recommend that you read it. I really like the main character i think she was an all around girl that just made a few bad choices. Anyway this is a great book and i think you should read it
The Great Review of the book Marie Antoinette.......2006-12-09
This book ranks in the top 10 best historical fiction books I've ever read.
I love the way that the author, Kathryn Lasky, describes the incredibly easy and at the same time, incredibly difficult life the young woman Marie Antoinette.
She is beautiful, kind, and respectful. She starts out as a playful young girl who likes to joke and have fun with her family and friends, and she ends up a lovely lady.
Through out her life, she must overcome large obsticles, just as we do. As she does, she records this infromation in a small diary, which she receives from her tutor Abbé de Vermond.
I loved reading this book, I hope you do too.
A Marie Antoinette Book Review.......2006-12-08
Marie Antoinette by Kathryn Lasky is a historical fiction book about Marie, the princess of Austria. She gets married to the Prince of France, in order for her mother to expand her empire. At first she is very intimidated by gossiping royalties of France and the ugly prince she is married to. She is very fed up with France and the fact that she has no privacy. She escapes it all by writing in her journal. What will become of her, you ask? Well, you will just have to read this book for yourself to find out.
I very much liked this book because it helped me learn more about Marie Antoinette and what her life was like, while still keeping it fun to read. This book is best suited for pre-teen or teen readers because it is rather short. If it was a huge entire novel that had smaller writing and more facts, it would be meant for an adult. But nay, it is concise with large font letters. But it is still a good book to read if you want something short, yet historical. So go on, buy this book, and enjoy it like I did.
Book Description
Two years after the executions of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette at the height of the French Revolution, a ten-year-old boy, his skin covered with scabies, his sanity gone, died in a Paris prison. Was this tortured child of royal birth, or had the young prince escaped? In time, the prince's surviving sister was approached by count-less 'brothers' claiming not only the dauphin's name, but also his inheritance. For the next 200 years, as rival royal dynasties vied for the French throne, this mystery went unsolved. It was not until experts discovered a mummified human heart in a crystal urn that the truth unfolded. Examining this historical mystery from every absorbing angle, Cadbury explains how modern DNA analysis uncovered a surprising answer to this centuries old mystery.
Customer Reviews:
If there is a better book about the Dauphin, please let me know.......2007-07-29
You read about how this little boy, who'd known only the best the world had to give, ended up in a sunless room, curled in a fetal position, full of puss and unable (or unwilling) to speak. This is a creepy tale that makes what happened to the son of the Tsar Alexander's son in 1917 (or there abouts...who knows for sure?) seem like a kind ending. It also gives you insight into his mother's execution and his sister's life.
A searing tale.......2007-05-23
Of all the human tragedy that marked the French Revolution, perhaps none was so acute as that experienced by the royal family. In this well-researched and engrossing book, Deborah Cadbury conveys the full measure of this tragedy in her description of the unspeakable horrors visited on the little Dauphin of France, Louis-Charles, son of Louis VXI and Marie-Antoinette. It is impossible to avoid that sick feeling in the pit of one's stomach as we read this harrowing tale, and it certainly helps explain why, to this day, many people can't bring themselves to believe that it was indeed Marie-Antoinette's "chou d'amour" who ended his days in so wretched a manner.
Cadbury also does a fine job of recounting in a very readable manner the seemingly endless procession of pretenders that began to emerge shortly after the Terror, and keeps the reader in suspense until the final denouement.
All in all, an excellent, moving book, not to be missed.
The Suffering of the Innocent.......2007-05-23
I enjoyed Deborah Cadbury's "The Lost King of France," although I would never recommend reading it at night, unless stories of small children being brutalized help one to sleep. Cadbury has a dry, logical style which makes her descriptions of the royal family's descent into hell all the more horrifying. I was perturbed when she stated that Fersen and Marie-Antoinette were probably lovers, without giving any evidence, especially when she was careful to give evidence for everything else. Also, on the cover of the book is most likely a picture of Louis-Joseph, not Louis-Charles (Louis XVII).
Many say that the book proves beyond doubt the death of Louis XVII on June 8, 1795, but it does not. The DNA merely concluded that the desiccated heart which was allegedly removed from the little victim who died in the Temple was the child of a Habsburg princess. As anyone familiar with European history knows, Habsburg princesses were legion; many not having the last name of Habsburg, but having Habsburg genes. Although it is highly probable that Louis XVII did die in the Temple at age ten after horrendous sufferings, it should be recalled that Madame Royale herself had doubts about the fate of her brother, since she had not been allowed to identify the body.
Great Read, Poorly Made Book.......2007-02-22
I purchased my soft cover copy of The Lost King of France in February 2007 through Amazon. As I began reading, the pages began to fall out of the book. The ink on the pages was thin, spotty,frequently irritating to read as one's eye stopped to make out whether a letter was an "e" or an "o." The publisher is St. Martin's Griffin. Fine work by the author - excellent read. Check it out of the library or find a hardback to buy. By the time you finish reading the paperback, you'll have a lap full of single pages and a severe case of eye strain. Paper's cheap too.
Well written.......2007-01-29
Oh , this is such a sad book, about a poor child that suffered so much---just because he was the son of Marie Antoinette. Parts of this book simply made me cry (especially at the very end of this book).
The author is AMAZING!...Wow, what a writer! I'd love to read more of her books after buying this one.
The information given inside this book (ie: on whether the "real" Boy King died in the horrible way which he did) were proven to me, in my humble opinion. The author covers all bases, in order to come up with the final conclusion on what truly happened to the poor King child.
I recommned this book if you like mysteries, biographies of famous people, and also if you like the topic of History , in general.
Amazon.com
This highly readable translation of French historian Evelyne Lever's 1991 biography captures all the drama and pathos of Marie Antoinette's short life. Born in 1755, this carefree, fun-loving daughter of Austrian empress Maria Theresa inherited neither her mother's political shrewdness nor her sense of duty. She was married off at 14 to the stolid, clumsy French Dauphin, who would not fully consummate their marriage for another seven years, at which point he was King Louis XVI and their marital difficulties were the subject of public ridicule. She consoled herself by retreating to the artificial village she constructed at Trianon, where she could be free of the court etiquette she hated and indulge in expensive amusements that only increased her unpopularity. Her rare incursions into politics were just as ill judged; she alienated the French nobility with attempts to further Austria's diplomatic goals, and from the first rumblings of revolution in 1788, she influenced Louis to take a hard line on royal power when compromise might have saved the monarchy and prevented their executions in 1793. Lever does not soften Marie Antoinette's faults or downplay her poor judgment, but most readers will finish this absorbing narrative feeling very sorry for a pretty, goodhearted, but fundamentally frivolous woman thrown into a historical moment whose demands were beyond her. --Wendy Smith
Book Description
Family life in Vienna, the wedding at Versailles, the French court, boredom, hypocrisy, loneliness, allies, enemies, extravagant entertainment, scandal, intrigue, sex, birth and bereavement, lovers, peasant riots, the fall of the Bastille, the attack on Versailles, confinement in the Tuileries, escape and capture, mob rule in Paris, imprisonment, the guillotine...
In Marie Antoinette Evelyne Lever tells the sumptuous story of the last--and the most infamous--queen of France. Married off at fourteen by her ruthless mother for political purposes to the unprepossessing Dauphin, the future Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette was immature, brazenly self-indulgent, impetuous and wholly unprepared for the role history cast for her. Her sad attempts to consummate her marriage read like bedroom farce, and she did little to quell the rumors of her increasingly dangerous liaisons. Bolstered by the staged receptions that she mistook for popular approval, she was willfully out of touch with the nation's dire economic troubles, the seething social and political climate of prerevolutionary France, and eventually retreated--from both her husband and the public--behind a wall of courtiers and into a world of opulent fantasy--until it was too late.
Based on diaries, letters, court documents and memoirs, Marie Antoinette paints vivid portraits of the Queen, her inner circle and the lavish court life at Versailles. Here are the formidable Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, using her daughter Antonia, as Maria Antoinette was called, to realize her own ambitions for the Habsburg empire; the legendary Madame du Barry, lover of Louis XV, whom Marie Antoinette vowed never to address; the dashing Count Axel Fersen, heir to one of the most powerful Swedish families and the grand passion of Marie Antoinette's life; and the inept and hapless Dauphin, a ruler incapable of action even as he watched the monarchy collapse around him.
From Marie Antoinette's birth in Vienna in 1755 through her turbulent, unhappy marriage, the bloody turmoil of the French Revolution, her trial for high treason (during which she was accused of incest) and her final beheading. Lever weaves a tragic hale of power and its abuse, and an unforgettable tapestry of life in eighteenth-century France.
Customer Reviews:
An Absolute Must Read.......2007-08-05
I absolutely loved reading this book. I found it hard to put it down. This book tells of the politics during the time of Marie Antoinette, her love life, and of the troubles that not only she faced, but also her husband. The book describes how ill prepared both she and her husband were for their roles as Queen and King of France. It is written in such an interesting way and is an easy read. The last few chapters are almost a bit emotionally hard to read because it does go into detail of the horrible conditions they had to live their last few moments in and of their death.
A must read, even for those who are not that interested in history!
Tragic..........2006-10-20
Palace suspicions had kept her at arms length from the main events in France.
Marie Antoinette, the daughter of Maria Theresa of Austria (Empress of the Habsburg dynasty), was the victim of gutter press and the intrigues of ambitious lackeys, consequently was to take part of the blame that followed.
For example recent literature revealed she had never said `let the people eat cake if they don't have bread' - during the height of a bread shortage in Paris. The alleged quotation was magnified in the press to her detriment when the time for the Revolution came.
Cardinal de Rohan, France's Envoy to Austria, whose ambition to become France's Prime Minister had been blocked several times by Marie Antoinette {because some of the Cardinal's letters were intercepted in which he said he `bedded half the royal court of Austria"}. The Cardinal worked hard to tarnish Antoinette's image.
de Rohan propagated that the queen secretly sought to buy a necklace for two million Livres, but such accusation was never true.
During the trial the Cardinal was acquitted, and the Queen was condemned.
She was accused of amassing fortunes, jewels, wardrobe filled with myriads of latest fashions - extremely expensive dresses and hundreds of `shoes' -.
Her husband, King Louis XVI, whose optimism with the future of France only days before the July 14th deluge, was extremely feted as much for her magnificent presence as for his known weakness of characters.
As daughter of Maria Theresa, her fondness for France was in direct proportion to her natural love for Austria. The Queen carried soil from Vienna in a jewelled box and planted seeds in her garden. But politics and greed were indeed cruel to this young queen who married the King `boy' when she was only 14.
A decent read.......2006-09-28
This book is mediocre at best. Overall written well, but the characters are confusing.
Facts are stretched to fit romantic fantasies........2006-07-26
I am disappointed that of all the excellent biographies of Marie-Antoinette written by French scholars, Lever's is the one that was translated into English and found its way into the American bookstores. She is a very romantic lady, and stretches the facts to created a romance between the queen and Count von Fersen, even imagining that the queen built her Temple of Love for him, without presenting any solid facts to prove her point. The ordeal of the little dauphin, who is taken from his mother and abused, is downplayed in an outrageous manner. For a better biography of the queen, please read Desmond Seward's. For a true account of what happened to little Louis XVII, read Deborah Cadbury's superb book. There are novels which have better history than Lever's biography, such as Vidal's "Trianon." I would not recommend this book and I hope that Bertiere's biography is soon translated into english.
The last queen of France.......2006-07-14
I went into this biography by Evelyne Lever with little knowledge about Marie Antoinette. I feel that Lever did her research well about this tragic queen of France.
Marie Antoinette was actually Maria Antonia (called Antonia) when she lived under the care of her parents, who were the Emperor and Empress of Austria. The Empress Maria Theresa would be a great influence in Marie Antoinette's life. She gives her daughter for marriage when Marie was just 14. The French Dauphin, Marie's husband, is a clumsy man who eventually becomes the future King Louis XVI of France. The Empress always works for Austria's best interests as she tries to politically influence her frivolous daughter, who eventually becomes the Queen of France.
Lever produces a straight-to-the-point biography, and she clearly shows what an inane, fun-loving woman Marie Antoinette was. She rarely cared about politics and 99% of the time had no idea how to handle political issues. She hated etiquette. She was also easily influenced by friends close to her. Throughout her life, she also stubbornly adhered to her Austrian ties even if it meant losing her popularity in France. I sighed many times reading this book because I did not realize how frivolous one could be until that one person was Marie Antoinette. She spent lavish amounts of money on gardens and a fake village (a getaway place for her) and on the latest fashions while the rest of France starves.
Lever is very matter of fact. There were some parts of the book that I did not really know what was going on because my knowledge of French history is limited. Yes some parts were hazy and dry, but that did not stop me from greedily devouring this book: I couldn't put it down! It read like a fine story. I especially liked the Queen's love for a Swedish nobleman. Lever presents to readers only what is known through preserved journals; she leaves readers wondering what the rest of the world is thinking: what exactly went on with the Swede and the Queen? Her discussion of this matter has left me hungry for more!
All of Marie Antoinette's insouciant attitudes and her penchant for living lavishly might seem repulsive, but it just made her the one sovereign that knew, in Lever's words, "how to bring to perfection the aristocratic art of living of prerevolutionary France." The reader will be disgusted of her naivety (well put by Lever) but as the cries of hate and "l'Autrichienne" rise until it becomes the end of her, one does end up feeling sorry for this pretty lady who was thrust into a dangerous game she never wanted to play in the first place. Lever wrote a good biography of a queen that is now the stuff of legend.
Book Description
Based on the book Marie-Antoinette: The Journey by Antonia Fraser, Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette is a powerful and sympathetic film of the tragic life of France's iconic and misunderstood eighteenth-century Queen. Shot entirely in France, much on location at the Palace of Versailles, the film is visually stunning, bringing together a cast that includes Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman, Rip Torn, and Marianne Faithful, and the extraordinary costume designs of Oscar-winner Milena Canonero (Barry Lyndon, A Clockwork Orange).
A moving story of naivety and responsibility, reputation and misunderstanding, Marie Antoinette is a film that Sofia Coppola has wanted to make for years. In a book that is at once the personal chronicle of a major work and a beautiful tribute to the potential of film, featuring elements of the director's own screenplay as well as captivating stills, the director's personal photos, and original designs for costumes and sets, Marie Antoinette is an essential companion for any lover of modern cinema.
Customer Reviews:
Good, but now wonderful.......2007-06-07
The book was bought as a gift. My mom loved the movie, especially the beautiful dresses, and I bought the book hoping for a lot of pictures she would be able to look at and gush over... (And I knew I could have the pleasure of borrowing it after she would have finished!)
First of all, I was very disappointed that the cover, which looked like some kind of blue satin in the pictures, was not. It's only a regular paper cover (hard cover, but paper!). It's quality, but not what I was hoping for.
There are pictures indeed, but not as many as I was hoping for, and it's mostly on-set pictures, in the sense that it's like the images you would get by freezing the screen watching the movie. Of course there are some exclusive pictures, but I was hoping for more, and detailed pictures, to see what I wasn't able to watching the movie, something more special...
The script excerpts are cool, but of course, since it's handwritten, it can be hard to read.
My mom was very happy to receive that book for mother's day, especially since she loved the look of the movie. But she had to admit she was a little disappointed overall after going through it.
Having said that, I cannot say that I regret my purchase. Only that it's not exactly up to par to what I expected and that maybe I would've liked to pay a little less for a product in that category of quality.
Lovely book - but for fans only.......2007-04-03
I was desperate to get this book as I was a huge fan of the movie and, being a history buff, am also a great fan of Marie Antoinette. The book is certainly beautifully presented, with many gorgeous photos and the director's script, which makes for interesting reading as you are flipping through. However, I had really hoped to see some writings in the book about how the movie, sets, costumes, etc were designed, interviews with cast and crew, and how Sofia Coppola drew inspiration to create the movie. To be honest, I was disappointed to find it did not contain any of this - I personally thought these items could have been included without compromising on the taste and exclusivity of the book (ie. not turning it into a trashy cheap film-tie-in book, like the ones that get mass produced for some movies) but still it is a beautiful book and definitely worth having if you are a fan of either the film, Marie Antoinette, Kirsten Dunst or Sofia Coppola. Personally, I would still buy it.
A picture paints a thousand words.......2007-02-06
I bought this book on a whim and I am happy that I did. The photos are absolutely superb. Just gorgeous. Its a nice little companion for the film. I only wished that some photos were larger and that there was a larger selection. Most of the photos in it are just the promotional photos I have seen everywhere online. But still a wonderful book to display on a table.
Magnifique.......2007-01-11
I'm French so Marie-Antoinette is a part of my History! The book from the movie is simply incredible. Inside, you can see the script (in fact, not the total one but some good parts of if) and some beautiful pictures of the movie. I really love it :) So chic!
Almost perfect.......2007-01-09
The pictures were just what I wanted and I liked seeing the script. However, I wish there would have been more insights into the filming from Sofia Coppola.
Book Description
Imagine that, on the night before she is to die under the blade of the guillotine, Marie Antoinette leaves behind in her prison cell a diary telling the story of her life—from her privileged childhood as Austrian Archduchess to her years as glamorous mistress of Versailles to the heartbreak of imprisonment and humiliation during the French Revolution.
Carolly Erickson takes the reader deep into the psyche of France’s doomed queen: her love affair with handsome Swedish diplomat Count Axel Fersen, who risked his life to save her; her fears on the terrifying night the Parisian mob broke into her palace bedroom intent on murdering her and her family; her harrowing attempted flight from France in disguise; her recapture and the grim months of harsh captivity; her agony when her beloved husband was guillotined and her young son was torn from her arms, never to be seen again.
Erickson brilliantly captures the queen’s voice, her hopes, her dreads, and her suffering. We follow, mesmerized, as she reveals every detail of her remarkable, eventful life—from her teenage years when she began keeping a diary to her final days when she awaited her own bloody appointment with the guillotine.
Customer Reviews:
THE WORST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ.......2007-10-15
I'm a huge fan of historical fiction and, though a history buff, I can ignore historical inaccuracies for the sake of a good story. However, this was, quite possibly, THE WORST story I have ever read.
The plot is simplistic and trite, the characters are all unsympathetic and I was quite glad that Erickson's incredibly evil National Assembly condemned them all to death. She ignored the complexities of the people and the time period and instead chose to invent characters and events that were incredibly inane and were much more boring than what actually happened.
The author very obviously did not bother to do much research and her account of the French Revolution reads like royalist propaganda. Robespierre, who historically was a soft-spoken idealist called "the Incorruptible" shows up as The Source of All Evil, whom we are supposed to hate because he has pockmarks (he didn't) and he blames Marie for quite rightly conspiring with Austria. Marie herself is horribly unsympathetic and I wanted to hit her over the head with a shovel. She is stupid, vapid, irritating, and selfish. It is remarkably easy to make Marie Antoinette sympathetic. Who wouldn't feel sorry for a 14-year-old princess taken away from everything she holds dear to the very bewildering court of Versailles? However, by zeroing in on the flippant, frivolous twit who ramped up the national debt because she just *had* to have a new diamond necklace, Erickson made Marie Antoinette one-dimensional and thoroughly boring when she wasn't thoroughly irritating.
Erickson offers no motivations for any of her characters' actions, offers an incredibly vacuous view of a highly complicated time and completely ignores historical people and events for invented, trite, boring, and incredibly stupid characters and actions that she made up entirely.
This was a terrible, terrible book, and I hope Carolly Erickson will learn to a. research before attempting an historical novel, and b. learn that people have motivations for actions and are seldom one-dimensional.
I wish I could have a refund, and/or rate this zero stars. It was really that bad.
A Good Place to Start.......2007-09-27
I just finished The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette and I really enjoyed it while I was reading it. I have to admit that I am pretty ignorant about lots and lots of world history and when I was younger I didn't enjoy History class much, if at all. But this novel presents history in a very accessible way. It wasn't overwhelming with details...in a good way. And it left me wanting to read more about Marie Antoinette.
I would have given the novel four stars if the journal style of it had been true to form but the dialog was written in the third person narrative. Which I enjoyed reading but it's certainly not how a diary would be written.
I think this would be a wonderful novel for students learning about the French Revolution and for people like me who have never read anything about Marie Antoinette. It's a great starting point.
Mixed feelings on this one..........2007-08-08
Yet another fictionalized version of the life and times of one of France's most famous Queens. I am addicted to historical fiction such as this, and the detailing of her personal trials was very appealing to me. Also, diary format novels tend to be easier to read, although they usually lack depth. Erickson's vision of Marie is sympathetic, yet alludes to her naive personality traits - this is done very well, giving her very human-like qualities and a conscience, while at the same time addressing her self-righteous faults. The dialogue is well written (something I have trouble with myself) and the entire book is a good example of showing mounting despair and the culmination of events, as well as time progression. That said, the dates were strangely off (not historically, but mathematically ... for example, she said that something happened two years before, but according to the dates in the book, it was less than a year) and the entries about Marie being in love are tedious and trite. The author skipped over important events. If they are even covered, they lack detail and description. In fact, the entire tome uses repetitious images and doesn't have much visual imagery. Of course, the journal entries could just be a personificaition of the author's purpose - that is, to show a vapid, almost shallow girl mature into a woman of strength and pride - by using ideas over and over to show childishness. In the end, though, this was most definitely a page turner: gripping, sometimes shocking (see page 316), and emotionally filling. The pages of the brutality of the French Revolution were particularly eye opening for me. I found myself wanting more, Erickson's portrayal of Marie being both fascinating and quite beautiful in its own simplistic way.
THE PSYCHE OF A DOOMED QUEEN.......2007-07-23
I particularly enjoyed the diary format of The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette. It illustrated the hypothetical Marie's state of mind from her early teens up to her death by guillotine and made for a quick, entertaining read.
Author Carolly Erickson makes it clear that this is a work of fiction, not fact, but her attention to historical detail, embellished by her beautifully drawn characterizations of Marie, Louie and Axel Ferson captures every nuance of their convoluted personal relationships. The reader occasionally finds themselves feeling some sympathy Marie, the mother, as well as for the weak King Louis XVI, since it was never his desire to ascend the throne. One does wonder why he and Marie ignored the Parisian storm that was building for a dozen or more years until it became the violent hurricane known as the French Revolution. (I suppose since the outcome of the story had already been written by history, the author chose to explore the logical steps that would culminate with a trip to the guillotine).
Cheers to Ms. Erickson for her imaginative, enthralling chronicle. One can almost believe this diary was actually committed to paper by the woman who - in reality - - was much too busy living to ever have the time or inclination to pen this journal.
The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette.......2007-07-21
I found this book to be exactly what it set out to be. Entertainment. If your looking for a 100 percent true to history account of Marie Antoinette's life, look elsewhere. If your looking for a lazy summer read this book is for you. It has all the workings of a great "soap opera", monarchy, money,marriage,love affaris, partying,ect..
Book Description
"Evocative photography and a wealth of detail make the book a visual treat."—Interior Design
Marie Antoinette, whose marriage at fifteen made her queen of France before she was twenty, died under the blade of the guillotine in 1793. She has been romanticized as the martyred queen, admired as the personification of eighteenth-century French royal style, and vilified as the Austrian whose frivolous extravagance and foreign sympathies fired the French Revolution.
This book turns aside from the official portraits and great historical events to rediscover the private places and objects that reflect Marie Antoinette's personality and reveal her more directly to our modern gaze. Beautifully photographed by François Halard, the rooms and buildings she inhabited are shown here in fascinating detail, from the distinctive fabrics and furnishings to the queen's favorite objects—an amber curiosity, a Chinese lacquer gift from her mother, a porcelain bowl. 123 illustrations, 108 in color.
Customer Reviews:
Marie Antoinette.......2007-05-21
Beautiful book with nice pictures of several places on where Queen Marie Antoinette left her signature. Her rooms, gardens, Hameau, bodoire are beautifully described in this nice work. I recommend it for all who are interested in Marie Antoinette.
The Marie Antoinette book you simply must have!!.......2007-02-13
If you wish to be propelled into her realm, then look no further. I have read many books about Marie Antoinette and this is one of my favourites. The basic text is accompanied by the most wonderful photographs, portraits and furniture details that I have seen anywhere. Highly recommended.
Small but Interesting.......2007-01-11
This book is fairly small but it has some interesting tid bits about Marie Antoinette. The focus of this book is mainly on the royal's furniture and accessories. It doesn't go too much into Marie Antoinette's history. An interesting book for any Marie Antoinette fan.
LOVELY!!!.......2006-10-13
This book has pictures which I have found no where else concerning life at Marie-Antoinette's Petit Trianon. Her gambling purse, her keys, her mementoes, as well as rare sketches of herself and her family are gathered into one spell-binding collection of delight. Very satisfying for those hungry for details of the queen's private life. For those unable to travel to the gardens of Versailles, there are amazing photos. Exquisite but bitter sweet, considering the sad events which were about to befall the royal family!
A piece of carp.......2004-12-25
I was extremely disappointed in this book. This is a junk book you'd pick up at a souvenier shop. It takes a worthier and more particular kind of person to appreciate entire pages devoted to a few inches of motif taking up entire pages.
Book Description
The story of Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI. In this work of historical fiction, all of the characters were actual people The incidents, situations and conversations are based on reality. It is the story of the martyred King Louis XVI and his Queen, Antoinette. The fruit of years of research, the book corrects many of the popular misconceptions of the royal couple, which secular and modernist historians have tried so hard to promote. Louis and Antoinette can only be truly understood in view of the Catholic teachings to which they adhered and within the context of the sacrament of matrimony. It was the graces of this sacramental life that gave them the strength to remain loyal to the Church, and to each other, in the face of crushing disappointments, innumerable humiliations, personal and national tragedy, and death itself. Theirs is not a conventional love story; indeed it is more than a love story. The fortitude they each displayed at the very gates of hell is a source of inspiration for all Christians who live in troubled times. Hardcover, smythe-sewn, cream paper, 205 pages.
Customer Reviews:
Beautiful and sad.......2007-07-31
Elena Vidal writes as if she is there at Versailles observing the inner workings of the French Royal Family before the calamity of the french revolution. The writing is wonderful but I kept feeling the horrors on the horizon for King Louis XVI, his Queen and all the Royal Family. How differently for France's history if people of intelligence and moderation had sat with the king to give real reform for the nation and not a future of bloodshed and chaos. Sad for France, sad for the thousands to be butchered under the Reign of Terror and Napoleon.
The spiritual life of Marie-Antoinette & King Louis.......2007-07-22
Its often easy to forget today that the office of King in old Europe was as much a religious one as it was temporal in most countries. This novel of the life of Queen Marie-Antoinette and King Louis XVI shows their lives from a religious point of view. The first section of the book is rather heavy with Catholic services and prayers as a result. The author can write well however, and does manage to show realistic scenes in the King and Queen's life and how they placed a greater trust in their religious convictions as a result of their trials later in life and the story rounds out with people you can easily like after the first third of book is read.
This book is an interesting, and I think valid look at the spiritual life of Marie-Antoinette and Louis and casts a somewhat unusual view of their life that is nevertheless a reasonably true reflection of those who truly believed in the Catholic church doctrine. I'm not sorry I read this book, but at the same time the heavy religious emphasis means that its not something I'll be in a hurry to read twice. I have to admit I would have been happier with this novel if the balance between the spiritual and the temporal had been a bit more even handed in the story telling. If I could I'd give this 3.5 stars.
an apocalypse of history and art!.......2006-07-26
Rarely have I come across a book that combines the genres of history, romance, art and literature such as 'Trianon' by E.M. Vidal. Among novels about the French Revolution, I was given a fresh perspective of the events behind the scenes. Among novels of Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI, it is second to none. The early vignettes are like of the paintings of the era, Hubert Robert and Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, brought to life. In the later scenes the author reveals the apocalyptic magnitude of the tragic events endured by Louis and Antoinette in a manner both heart-rending and inspiring. My only criticisms are that some of the narratives are overlong and that there are too many minor characters. Such flaws do not detract from the flow of the story. Well-researched and authentic in details, I recommend this book for all ages.
The Best Novel I've Read in Years.......2006-07-04
Trianon was so engaging, I couldn't put it down. I found myself transported in time. The writing draws you into the story and you don't want it to end! I felt the sorrows/joys/pains of the characters as if the events were happening to me. I highly recommend this book.
A superb novel of vision and prophecy!.......2006-07-04
If you like novels which combine the natural and supernatural, detailed historical scholarship with rumors of occult conspiracies, prophetic visions with political intrigue, then Elena Vidal's "Trianon" is the book for you. Although I found the first chapters a bit slow-going, I was soon swept up into the unfolding suspense of the royal family of France facing the storm of the Revolution. The love of the king and queen for each other, for their country and for their children exudes a power and beauty which makes the violent excesses of the revolutionaries all the more horrendous. Vidal's skill at descriptions, whether it be the sumptuous court of Versailles or the Temple prison, makes her one of the better historical fiction writers I have come across in a long time. She is certainly a rising star in the literary world. I truly felt I was encountering both Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette face-to-face, like a portrait come to life, in their moments of joy to the darkest moments of the human experience. Written like a screenplay, this book would make a fantastic movie. Like the sequel "Madame Royale," it transported me to another time and place. For anyone interested in Marie-Antoinette, this is MUST READ fiction. Highly recommended for all ages.
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- Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd: The inventories of the Wardrobe of Robes prepared in July 1600, edited from Stowe MS 557 in the British Library, MS LR 2/121 in the Public Record Office, London, and MS V.b.72 in the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington DC
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Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution
Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of the Sun King
The Wives of Henry VIII
