Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette

Author: Sena Jeter Naslund

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-eager to be a good wife and strong queen-she warmly embraces her adopted nation and its citizens. She shows her new husband nothing but love and encouragement, though he repeatedly fails to consummate their marriage and in so doing is unable to give what 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, and apart from the social life of the court, she allows herself to remain ignorant of the country's growing economic and political crises, even as poor harvests, bitter winters, war debts, and poverty precipitate rebellion and revenge. The young queen, once beloved by the common folk, becomes a target of scorn, cruelty, and hatred as she, the court's nobles, and the rest of the royal family are caught up in the nightmarish violence of a murderous time called "the Terror."

With penetrating insight and with wondrous narrative skill, Sena Jeter Naslund offers an intimate, fresh, heartbreaking, and dramatic reimagining of this truly compelling woman that goes far beyond popular myth-and she makes a bygone time of tumultuous change as real to us as the one we are living in now.

Oh my goodness. I think I just found my new favorite book. 

I swear, this book was absolutely fantastic! It's definitely my most favorite one out of anything I've reviewed on here so far. And it is by far the BEST historical fiction novel about Marie Antoinette that I've ever read. Easily.

My favorite part about this book was the historical correctness. Very few historical novels stay as true to the real events as this one did. I mean, why do authors always want to add in outrageous twists into Marie Antoinette's life? Ms. Naslund definitely understood that Marie Antoinette's story didn't need any major embellishments. Sure, she added very minor things in here and there, but they didn't change the main plot at all. They were mostly just little points that just enhanced the story and made it better. She didn't feel the need to add in completely fictitious events, like a trip to Sweden (like in Carolly Erickson's The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette). Like the saying goes, why fix what isn't broken? (Or why change what isn't boring? is probably a better phrase).

So, obviously, Sena Jeter Naslund did absolutely fantastic research. Almost every anecdote that I've read about in biographies was at least mentioned, but many of them were actually talked about in detail. Also, the author used REAL letters and quotes in her novel (but please note that not ALL the quotes are real!). This absolutely added more to the authenticity of it! I thought it was a really nice touch that not a lot of authors do, which really is a shame. Why not use the resources you already have? I loved those parts, because I really felt like I was learning so much more about Marie Antoinette.

And, of course, I HAVE to mention Axel Fersen. However, for the first time on this blog, it's not something bad I have to say. While Naslund did say include the love affair between Marie Antoinette and Count Fersen, I think that she did it in a way that actually made it more believable than a lot of biographies present it (not that it convinced me that they DID actually have an affair. See Tea at Trianon!). Naslund actually wrote it how I imagined it. I always thought that they were just innocently in love, not a passionate, physical affair. That's just the impression that I always got for some reason. I really felt like Naslund and I were on the same wavelength.

I thought that she was particularly good at portraying Marie Antoinette's relationships. She effectively showed the innocent love and friendship between the King Louis XVI and the queen; the true friendship that Marie Antoinette and the Princesse de Lamballe shared; the true, motherly affection that she had for her children, and her relationships with everyone else. I felt like each character had a unique bond with Marie Antoinette, and there were always different characteristics of each person that attracted them to each other. It really added depth to the characters and made them seem like actual people instead of just imaginary, 2-D people.

So I had something else to say, but I definitely forgot what it was (oops!), so that's the end of the review! As you can tell, I absolutely, 100% loved it! The only thing I didn't like was the cover design and art. I thought it looked much too busy, but it doesn't matter. I highly recommend this one over other Marie Antoinette novels, because this one actual teaches you what really happened, but in the form of a not-biography (since biographies seem to turn people off). It's more personal and emotional, so read it!!! 

Anyways, I think I'm reading a romance with a sparkly cover called Summer Breeze by Catherine Anderson next. I'm excited to read it because I read another book by Anderson a few months ago and I absolutely loved it. It was just so cute. So, I'll try to get the review up, if I do one (and yes, I know, every time that I say I might not do a review, I do it anyway), as soon as possible! My goal is at least one blog post a week starting now, since I didn't post anything last week. Sorry! But I do have a life that I have to balance out with reading, unfortunately. =D Anyways, as always, please leave comments if you want to talk about anything, or give suggestions! I'm always looking for new books to read, so I really appreciate suggestions! So leave a comment! 

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Kristi

The Queen's Dollmaker

Author: Christine Trent

I finished this book just a few minutes ago, and I'm not completely sure that I have a lot to say about it. I didn't think it was a great book, but I didn't think it was bad either. It was just more of a good book (in my weird ranking scale, that means above average).

I did really like the plot, which is most important to me in a novel, as I state in a ton of my posts (sorry for the repetition! =D). I thought it was a really creative idea that I've never heard of before. Claudette Laurent, daughter of a Parisian dollmaker, becomes an orphan after a fire claims her parents' lives. As she's unable to find her fiance, Jean-Phillipe, she travels to London and becomes a kitchen assistant to a horrible mistress. Along the way she meets many people that affect her life in major ways, such as Beatrice du Georges and her daughter Marguerite, Elizabeth Preston, and William Greycliffe, being some of the most important. Claudette tries to turn her situation around and make herself into a successful dollmaker, hoping to return to France someday. As her business grows more popular, she earns commissions from none other than the Queen Marie Antoinette (I know, who would've thought that I, of all people, would read a book involving Marie Antoinette?). The story continues from there, as Claudette has to deal with her own personal problems, her need for independence, and also her loyalty to the French monarchs, who become her dear friends, in midst of the revolution. Intriguing, yes? Absolutely. And while the plot was somewhat predictable at some points, Christine Trent also managed to add in twists that NO ONE would have guessed at, especially the ending. My jaw literally dropped. That never happens.

One of the problems I have with the book is that it kind of jumps around a lot, so sometimes I wasn't completely sure what was happening. One time, I was actually convinced I was missing a page or something, because one big event seemed like it was still in the process of happening, but then I turned the page and Claudette suddenly had an invitation to appear before Marie Antoinette. I sat there for at least three full minutes, trying to figure out what happened. 

Also, some of the scenes with Marie Antoinette seemed like they were randomly thrown in there. They weren't very relevant to the story, because she didn't even indirectly enter into Claudette's life until Axel Fersen decides to buy her one of Claudette's dolls, which happens almost halfway through the book. And while I think she did effectively explain parts of Marie Antoinette's life, like the Affair of the Diamond Necklace, in just a plain summary, I wish that Trent had presented some other parts of her life, such as the deaths of two of her children, with something other than a summary, like dialog, or correspondence, because I thought it seemed almost devoid of emotion, and she had an extremely turbulent and emotional life. I think that it would have been much more appealing with more of Marie Antoinette's thoughts or feelings included a little bit more.

The biggest problem I had, though, was historical accuracy and consistency. While I understand that in a historical fiction novel, you can take certain liberties, I think that if you don't have to change something to fit into your story, you should just keep it the same. I don't think it was a lack of research, because I've read several of the books Christine Trent listed in her bibliography, and they're really very good sources of information. For example, there were several places where Axel Fersen was referred to as Alexl. I've NEVER heard of him being called Alex, and it just bugged me every time it came up. Also, another example was that until the fishwives marched to Versailles, it sounded like the Palace of Versailles was IN Paris, but it really isn't. The Palace OF Versailles is in a town called Versailles, about 12 miles or so away from Paris. I had a problem with that mostly because when the royal family was taken to the Tuilleries Palace in Paris, Versailles suddenly seemed as though it were in a different place. So, mostly, it was a consistency issue. Those were my only two big accuracy annoyances, but I doubt it would bug anyone but me, just because I'm weird and anal about that stuff. 

So, ultimately, I did like it and would recommend this book to someone or read it again. Try it out, if you want and tell me what YOU think. Comments and emails (Kristi_reads@yahoo.com) are always accepted. =D Next I THINK I'm going to start Safe Harbor  by Luanne Rice, which I most likely won't write a review for because I read it about a million times when I was younger. But I'll figure out something else to write about if it takes me too long to finish. =D

Anyways, thanks for reading!

Love,

Kristi