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Abundance, A Novel of Marie Antoinette - Sena Jeter Naslund
Abundance, A Novel of Marie Antoinette
by: (author)
4.40 25
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... show more
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.
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Format: paperback
ISBN: 9780060825409 (0060825405)
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Pages no: 545
Edition language: English
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Community Reviews
Chrissie's Books
Chrissie's Books rated it
4.0 Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette
With this book I got into the head of Marie Antoinette. The author did all the research and based on the known facts delivered what she thought was going on in Marie Antoinette's head. She convinced me. At the end of the book is a list of source material, "A Brief Timeline of Events" and an interest...
Michelle CH
Michelle CH rated it
3.0 Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette
**3.5 stars** I think that the reader's voice in my audiobook version was partly to blame for me not liking it more. The story follows Marie from her wedding through her execution and yes she was completely unsympathetic at times. Part of it I imagine had to do with the royal hierarchy she was accus...
jennytrout
jennytrout rated it
At first, I struggled to like this book. There was a lot of ruminating on fatness vs. thinness that felt very much like the author's own opinions being expressed through the narrative, and that was a turn off. I'm glad I didn't stop reading it, though, as the author does an amazing job of transpor...
afterwhat
afterwhat rated it
Reading this was a lot like watching the Marie Antoinette movie with Kirstin Dunst. No surprises, not exactly a lot of character development...I mean, I know it's a historical novel based on a real person's life (about who there's a considerable amount of information), so I suppose there really isn...
florinda3rs
florinda3rs rated it
At the age of fourteen, Princess Maria Antonia of Austria was sent to France to be married to the fifteen-year-old Dauphin (crown prince) Louis Auguste, thus forging an alliance between their countries and re-christening her as the French Dauphine, Marie Antoinette. Such alliances are cemented by pr...
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