In my search for books prior to vacation this year, I learned that Marie Antoinette was raised in Vienna. Since we were visiting Vienna, I decided to try a historical fiction book about her childhood.
This book was not great literature (more like a beach read), but fun to read. It followed Marie's silver-spoon childhood which comes to a screeching halt when her mother decides to marry her off. She is betrothed to Louis XVI of France who will one day be king, which will help Austria's political prospects greatly. However, Marie is scarcely more than a child, so the first third of the book is about all the training and primping and planning that goes into turning her into a proper princess.
Once she arrives at Versailles, there is a lot to get used to. There are political and social requirements and factions, there are limits to her free time and her privacy, and there is the delicate matter of getting to know her also-young husband, both privately as well as in the context of a friendship. The latter proves easier than the former, though both stump her for a while.
The book, part one of a trilogy, ends with King Louis XV's death and Marie and her husband's ascent to the throne. It will be fun to read the next book in the series when it is published.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment