Days of Splendor, Days of Sorrow: A Novel of Marie Antoinette by Juliet Grey: A Book Review

Days of Splendor, Days of Sorrow: A Novel of Marie Antoinette
Author: Juliet Grey
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Release Date: 2012
Pages: 448
Source: Personal Collection
Synopsis: A captivating novel of rich spectacle and royal scandal, Days of Splendor, Days of Sorrow spans fifteen years in the fateful reign of Marie Antoinette, France’s most legendary and notorious queen.

Paris 1774. At the tender age of eighteen, Marie Antoinette ascends to the French throne alongside her husband, Louis XVI. But behind the extravagance of the young queen’s elaborate silk gowns and dizzyingly high coiffures, she harbors deep fears for her future and that of the Bourbon dynasty.

From her early growing pains of marriage to the joy of conceiving a child, from her passion for Swedish military attache Axel von Fersen to the devastating Affair of the Diamond Necklace, Marie Antoinette tries to rise above the gossip and rivalries that encircle her. But as revolution blossoms in America, a much larger threat looms beyond the gilded gates of Versailles-- one that could sweep away the French monarchy forever.

My Review: This is the second book in Juliet Grey’s trilogy of Marie Antoinette. In this novel, Marie Antoinette has at last become Queen of France. She decides to live a lavish lifestyle of gambling, dancing, and hosting parties, donning elaborate dresses and having extravagant and sometimes silly hairstyles. However in the midst of the glitz and glamour of being queen, she arouses disapproval and hatred of her French subjects.

In the beginning of the novel, the Parisian crowd greatly welcomes King Louis XVI’s reign with open arms. The king is young and kind-hearted and he has a beautiful, charming, young wife at his side. He seems to have a promising reign unlike his predecessor, Louis XV, whose reign caused hatred among his subjects. However, the king lacks one thing that would help secure France’s promising future-- an heir. When year after year goes by without an heir, they start to place their blame on the queen. They blame her for having an extravagant lifestyle for she is dancing and acting when she should be focusing on having a heir. This starts to damage her reputation and causes her to be hated and constantly mocked and criticized by her subjects.

Marie Antoinette’s high-rolling lifestyle is the result of her unhappiness to not get a dauphin. She is pressured by both her mother and her brother to get an heir, and she feels like she has failed her mother, her brother, and her subjects. She decides to spend excessively to help ease her stress and disappointment. However, when she does get an heir many years later, her reputation has already been tarnished and once she becomes the scapegoat in the infamous Affair of the Diamond Necklace, she has already lost the love of her subjects, and there is nothing she could do to help recover her subjects’ love.

Overall, this novel is about friendship, loyalty, love, betrayal, and scandal. This novel shows an in-depth psyche of Marie Antoinette and the motives to her actions. Marie Antoinette is a complex woman, who is human and makes mistakes. She can sometimes be rash when she is emotional. This is a sympathetic novel to Marie Antoinette and is a good sequel to Becoming Marie Antoinette. I will recommend this book to fans of historical fiction and anyone interested in Marie Antoinette.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Blog Tour: Guest Post by Shelley Stratton: Trolley Cars, the Metro, and Bringing Historical Settings to Life

Shelly Stratton is the author of She Wears the Mask . This interesting guest post discusses how she incorporates realistic details and facts about streetcars from the early 20th century, which were common long before her birth. Mrs. Stratton describes her love of these older modes of public transportation as well as how she felt a joy and kinship with those who patronized these iconic symbols of urban transportation throughout the industrial age. Thank you, Mrs. Stratton! Trolley Cars, the Metro, and Bringing Historical Settings to Life By Shelly Stratton Decades ago, whenever I visited my great grandmother and great aunt in NW Washington, D.C., they would always ask me, “Did you drive in or take the trolley car here?” As I removed my coat or stowed away my umbrella, I would politely correct them with “I took the metro.” But after correcting them so many times and both of them persistently referring to the metropolitan transit ...

The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post by Allison Pataki: A Book Review

The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post Author: Allison Pataki Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Ballantine Release Date: February 15, 2022 Pages: 381 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: Mrs. Post, the President and First Lady are here to see you. . . . So begins another average evening for Marjorie Merriweather Post. Presidents have come and gone, but she has hosted them all. Growing up in the modest farmlands of Battle Creek, Michigan, Marjorie was inspired by a few simple rules: always think for yourself, never take success for granted, and work hard—even when deemed American royalty, even while covered in imperial diamonds. Marjorie had an insatiable drive to live and love and to give more than she got. From crawling through Moscow warehouses to rescue the Tsar’s treasures to outrunning the Nazis in London, from serving the homeless of the Great Depression to entertaining Roosevelts, Kennedys, and Hollywood’s biggest stars, Marjorie Merriweath...

Kateryn Parr: Henry VIII's Sixth Queen by Laura Adkins: A Book Review

Kateryn Parr: Henry VIII’s Sixth Queen Author: Laura Adkins Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography Publisher: Pen and Sword History Book Release Date: 2024 Pages: 185 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: Kateryn Parr is mainly remembered today as being the sixth wife of King Henry VIII, the one who 'survived'. Kateryn was not only a wife but a queen, mother, reformer, and author. Kateryn would face a number of events in her lifetime including being held to ransom during the Pilgrimage of Grace, being placed as regent while Henry was in France, a role which only one of his five previous wives held, her namesake Katherine of Aragon, and overcame a plot which would have led to her arrest and execution. While Queen she was able to unite the Tudor family and establish some form of happiness for Henry VIII's three children. Raised by her mother Maud Parr, under a humanist education, Kateryn was intelligent enough to understand her role in life...

History from a Woman's Perspective- A Book Blog

Search This Blog