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Marie Antoinette by: Antonia Fraser

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Review Pages: 1 2 3 4 5

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Rating: - Excellent description of 18th century court life

Lady Antonia once again shows her great biographical talents with this book, devoting the greater portion of it to everyday court life. She clearly shows how tedious and repetitive life at the French court was and her descriptive talents make the most of what was - until the arrival of the Revolution, of course - basically an unexciting life. It is that aspect that through no fault of hers makes for a book that I found not always gripping. My 4 stars are therefore made up of 5 for Antonia, 3 for Antoinette.

Rating: - ABSOLUTEY FABULOUS!

Prior to coming across this book I had wondered where Antonia Fraser had disappeared to for the last few years and feared she had retired rom writing! How wrong could I have been, she's back and better than ever! Her meticulous and detailed research have certainly paid off and she has certainly helped the campaign of us Royalists in showing the true Antoinette by dispelling the myths wrought by the bitter demagogues. She reveals the tragic heroine who was used as a scapegoat not the shallow and extravagant whore that many would have us believe! A particularly sensitive handling of her final years as the doomed prisoner round off an impressive, absorbing and addictive novel. No one will ever eclipse this version and all I can ask is - who will be next in Antonia's long string of superb historical biographies?

Rating: - AN AMAZING, POWERFUL AND ULTIMATELY MOVING BOOK...

Like the previous reviewer I have read every book available to date about Marie Antoinette published in England and France. I really did have my doubts that anything new could be said about this ill fated Queen but had faith that Antonia Fraser could produce an exceptional biography regardless. What she produced is more than exceptional! It is much more in depth than any other book on this subject that I have read and certainly pays more attention to Marie Antoinette's early life and also her children than previously. The sheer size of the book is also a plus as is the huge amount of illustrations (some of which seem quite rare). I would recommend it to anyone and really feel (sadly) that now there really does not seem any need for any further evaluations -- at least not for a long long while!!...

Rating: - Marie Antoinette removed from the shadow of the guillotine.

I have read every single book published in England about Marie Antoinette, and I think Antonia Fraser has done the impossible. Every other book is written 'in the shadow of the guillotine'. Ms Fraser removes this. The young Arch-Duchess Antonia had no idea of her fate until the last few years of her life, and as a result of the way this book is written, we see the young Dauphine Marie Antoinette as a warmand loving princess, who longed to serve her adopted country and cared greatly about the poverty and suffering she saw around her. None of this impressed the frivolous French courtiers who were only too happy to criticize the Austrian Princess. Antonia Fraser also consigns to the wastepaper basket of history the comment, 'Let them eat cake'. Antoinette never said it: it has long been known that this remark was made by Marie Therese, the dim-witted wife of Louis XIV, and was resurrected by those who wished to weaken the monarchy still further. Antoinette's marital difficulties are not smoothed over, but again, Antonia Fraser removes the myth of the 'petit operation' which was said to have been performed before Louis XVI could make his queen a mother. Yes, Marie Antoinette was frivolous as a young woman, but aren't most young women of 14-20? As soon as she became a mother, as she had long wanted to be, her concerns changed and she became a mature and much more sensible woman. She supported her husband and family throughout the terrible traumas of the Revolution, and her courage and dignity in the face of the guillotine make her worthy to be the daughter of Empress Maria Theresa. This is, without doubt,the best biography of Marie Antoinette I have read.

Review Pages: 1 2 3 4 5