History from a Woman's Perspective- A Book Blog

Confessions of Marie Antoinette: A Novel Author: Juliet Grey Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Ballantine Books Release Date: September 24th, 2013 Pages: 464 Source: NetGalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: A novel for fans of Philippa Gregory and Michelle Moran, Confessions of Marie Antoinette blends rich historical detail with searing drama, bringing to life the first years of the French Revolution and the final days of the legendary French queen.      Versailles, 1789. As the burgeoning rebellion reaches the palace gates, Marie Antoinette finds her privileged and peaceful life swiftly upended by violence. Once her loyal subjects, the people of France now seek to overthrow the crown, placing the heirs of the Bourbon dynasty in mortal peril.      Displaced to the Tuileries Palace in Paris, the royal family is propelled into the heart of the Revolution. There, despite a few staunch allies, they are surrounded by cunning...

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 riva...

Becoming Marie Antoinette Author: Juliet Grey Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Ballantine Books Release Date: 2011 Pages: 466 Source: Personal Collection Synopsis:  This enthralling confection of a novel, the first in a new trilogy follows the transformation of a coddled Austrian archduchess into the reckless, powerful, beautiful queen Marie Antoinette.      “Why must it be me?” I wondered.      When I am so clearly inadequate to my destiny?”      Raised alongside her numerous brothers and sisters by the formidable empress of Austria, ten year-old Maria Antonia knew that her idyllic existence would one day be sacrificed to her mother’s political ambitions. What she never anticipated was that the day in question would come so soon.      Before she can journey from sunlit picnics with her sisters in Vienna to the glitter, glamour, and gossip of Versailles, Antonia must change everything about herself in ord...