Abundance, A Novel of Marie Antoinette (P.S.) - Softcover

Naslund, Sena Jeter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060825405 ISBN 13: 9780060825409

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2007

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author:

Sena Jeter Naslund is the author of the novels Four Spirits and Abundance, A Novel of Marie Antoinette and a short story collection, The Disobedience of Water. A native of Birmingham, Alabama, she is a winner of the Harper Lee Award; Distinguished Teaching Professor and Writer in Residence at the University of Louisville; director of the Spalding University brief-residency Master of Fine Arts in Writing program; former poet laureate of Kentucky; and editor of The Louisville Review and the Fleur-de-Lis Press.

From AudioFile:

Engaged to the 15-year-old dauphin, 'Toinette, the high-spirited 14-year-old daughter of the empress of Austria, arrives in France with enthusiasm for new sights, sounds, and the French people who welcome her. Susanna Burney uses an elevated pitch and fast pace to convey this naïve excitement. By the age of 16, Marie Antoinette, still unbedded and better schooled on political etiquette, has matured, and Burney marks the change by adopting a lower timbre and more moderate tempo. Burney also dramatizes the young queen's growing pleasure in earthly delights and her surprise at the displeasure of the French populace. As the end approaches, Burney's calm voice portrays a woman who has accepted a violent death. S.W. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0060825405
• ISBN 13: 9780060825409
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 545