- Hardcover: 256 pages
- Publisher: George Braziller Pub'rs (April 29 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0807615145
- ISBN-13: 978-0807615140
- Product Dimensions: 21.7 x 14 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 426 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,659,708 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Booklist
As revolution rages outside the palace walls, inside the court of Versailles--the court of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI--denial reigns before giving way to alarm, which in turn degenerates into panic and chaos. Thomas spins the familiar events of the 1789 French Revolution into a compelling novel, with the central character less the famously ill-fated queen than the insular and ritualized society of the palace. The story is told by a woman looking back 30 years, to when it was her job to read books aloud to Marie Antoinette. Her status as courtier makes her the best kind of narrator--at once an insider and an observer of the royals. She describes the final days before revolution engulfs the palace with insight and surprising slices of humor. Some passages read almost like satire, as the indulged inhabitants of Versailles cling to the privileges that have defined their now-threatened lives--royals are reluctant to leave the palace without proper traveling attire, courtiers try to flee while lugging heavy possessions. Thomas' formidable skills as a researcher give the book authenticity, and her keen eye for human behavior and talent for storytelling make it sing. Karen Holt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
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.
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.
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. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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.
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. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good but not great,
By
This review is from: Farewell My Queen A Novel (Hardcover)
Perhaps it's because I read this novel in translation that I did not find it as compelling as others reviewers have. I finished the novel because I wanted to find out how the protagonist made it to Vienna when the Versailles fantasy began to collapse. But it was a slow go. In places, such as where the protagonist recalls in stunning detail a lengthy conversation between two guards about Marie Antoinette, I felt my crdulity strained that, as one of the queen's courtiers, she wasn't either beaten up or raped by these two guys. In fact, maybe it was the sexlessness of this world--with only the hint of a possible lesbian relationship with Gabrielle de Polignac--that made it finally less than riveting.High points of the novel: the meticulous description of the most minute gradations of rank and the way they constantly underwent change.
5.0 out of 5 stars
brilliant historical fiction,
By
This review is from: Farewell, My Queen: A Novel (Paperback)
Two decades have passed since the momentous events of the final days of the reign of King Louis XVI and his Queen Marie-Antoinette. The Queen's deputy reader, Madam Agathe-Sidonie Laborde, from the safety of her Vienna apartment looks back to the revolutionary fervor that beheaded the monarchy and recalls that final month in the summer of '89. Leading up to the three heated July days, the opulent aristocracy including the king refused to believe the unrest would turn violent. Instead they lived in splendor in the Versailles Palace accompanied by rats, insects, and disease as to be expected when one builds on a swamp. By the time the court accepted reality, it proved too late for most although Madam Laborde, in a desperate Hail Mary escape attempt knowing that anyone associated with the crown was subject to Madam Guillotine, obviously succeeded so that she can share her memories of those days that changed the world forever.This brilliant work of historical fiction shines quite a fabulous light on mostly Marie Antoinette in her final days, but also the rest of the French Court as the Revolution erupts. The tale provides the most intimate levels of detail that history ignores (a luxurious castle overrun by vermin stunned this reviewer). Madam Laborde's account is so dramatic and specific even to the smallest tidbits that the audience ends up with a terrific work of fiction that provides an insightful reality of the era, so much so that audience will feel they are standing in the dark along side the frightened queen who tried to flee when it was too late. Historical readers including non-fiction fans will treasure this incredible creative masterpiece. Harriet Klausner
4.0 out of 5 stars
Three days at Versailles,
By K. Maxwell "katmax1" (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Farewell My Queen A Novel (Hardcover)
Agathe-Sidonie Laborde was a reader to Queen Marie-Antoinette of France. Living in exile in Vienna at the age of 65 she recounts in flashback the last days of Versailles before it fell to the revolution in France.The story is rather like watching a ship sink. A world full of people and customs that are on the brink of extinction and right up to the last minute few of them want to believe that their world is ending. Versailles and its inhabitants and centuries of customs vanish in the space of three days. In this small novel the author brings to life for a short space the doomed world of the French aristocracy, told through the eyes of someone who lived on the fringes of their world, but still knew its inhabitants well. This is not my favourite historical novel, but it is one that is memorable for its feeling of doom and how well the author seems to have caught the lost world of France before the revolution. Would I read this book again? At this point, I couldn't give a definite yes. I would recommend you borrow this from the library to read before buying it to see if it suits your tastes in historical novels as in many ways it differs from the "standard" history story.
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