Farewell, My Queen: A Novel - Softcover

Chantal Thomas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0743260783 ISBN 13: 9780743260787

Publisher: Atria, 2004

Synopsis

It was once the job of Madame Agathe-Sidonie Laborde to read books aloud to Marie-Antoinette. Now exiled in Vienna, she looks back twenty-one years to the legendary opulence of Versailles and meticulously reconstructs July 14, 15, and 16 of 1789.
When Agathe-Sidonie is summoned to the Queen's side on the morning of the 14th, Versailles is a miniature universe, sparkling with every outward appearance of happiness and power, peopled with nobles of minutely calibrated rank, and run according to a hundred-year-old ritual called the Perfect Day. But with the shocking news that someone has woken the King in the night, order begins to disintegrate and word of the fall of the Bastille seeps into court. Soon Versailles's beauty is nothing more than a shell encasing rising panic and chaos. Agathe-Sidonie watches as the Queen's attempts to flee are aborted; her most intimate friend betrays her; and the King, appearing to sleepwalk through this crisis, never alters his routine of visiting the Apollo Salon several times a day to consult a giant crystal thermometer.
From the tiniest garret to the Hall of Mirrors, where Marie-Antoinette stands alone and terrified in the dark, Chantal Thomas shows us a world on the edge of oblivion and an intimate portrait of the woman who, like "fire in motion," was its center.

About this title

About the Author:

Chantal Thomas, a specialist in 18th century literature, is Director of Research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France. She is the author of THE WICKED QUEEN: THE ORIGINS OF THE MYTH OF MARIE ANTOINETTE and COPING WITH FREEDOM: REFLECTIONS ON EPHEMERAL HAPPINESS. FAREWELL, MY QUEEN is her first novel.

Review:

Susan Lynne Harkins

"Orlando Sentinel"

Illuminating...intimate....The charm of its language, Thomas's thorough research, and her compassion for her subject not only imbue the novel with remarkable authenticity but also render it a memorable billet-doux to a bygone France.

Ron Charles

"The Christian Science Monitor"

A fascinating portrayal...gorgeous details.

Alan Riding

"The New York Times Book Review"

Delightful...vivid and elegant...Ưa¨ rich tableau vivant...in these pages the ill-fated queen is allowed to be human.

Zofia Smardz

"The Washington Post Book World"

Elegant, powerful...no ordinary historical novel...a bravura glimpse into a dreamlike life that seemed to have nowhere to go but into oblivion.

Ron Charles"The Christian Science Monitor"A fascinating portrayal...gorgeous details.

Alan Riding"The New York Times Book Review"Delightful...vivid and elegant...[a] rich tableau vivant...in these pages the ill-fated queen is allowed to be human.

Zofia Smardz"The Washington Post Book World"Elegant, powerful...no ordinary historical novel...a bravura glimpse into a dreamlike life that seemed to have nowhere to go but into oblivion.

Susan Lynne Harkins"Orlando Sentinel"Illuminating...intimate....The charm of its language, Thomas's thorough research, and her compassion for her subject not only imbue the novel with remarkable authenticity but also render it a memorable billet-doux to a bygone France.

Alan Riding "The New York Times Book Review" Delightful...vivid and elegant...[a] rich tableau vivant...in these pages the ill-fated queen is allowed to be human.

Zofia Smardz "The Washington Post Book World" Elegant, powerful...no ordinary historical novel...a bravura glimpse into a dreamlike life that seemed to have nowhere to go but into oblivion.

About this edition

• Publisher: Atria
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0743260783
• ISBN 13: 9780743260787
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 233