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Marie Antoinette : the journey

by Fraser, Antonia, 1932-

Format: Print Book 2002
Availability: Available at 3 Libraries 3 of 3 copies

Available (3)
Location Collection Call #
Braddock Carnegie Library Non Fiction 92 ANT
Location  Braddock Carnegie Library
 
Collection  Non Fiction
 
Call Number  92 ANT
 
 
Brentwood Library Biography 92 Marie Antoinette
Location  Brentwood Library
 
Collection  Biography
 
Call Number  92 Marie Antoinette
 
 
Mt. Lebanon Public Library Non-Fiction 944.04 Fra
Location  Mt. Lebanon Public Library
 
Collection  Non-Fiction
 
Call Number  944.04 Fra
 
 

Summary
France's iconic queen, Marie Antoinette, wrongly accused of uttering the infamous "Let them eat cake," was alternately revered and reviled during her lifetime. For centuries since, she has been the object of debate, speculation, and the fascination so often accorded illustrious figures in history. Married in mere girlhood, this essentially lighthearted child was thrust onto the royal stage and commanded by circumstance to play a significant role in European history. Antonia Fraser's lavish and engaging portrait excites compassion and regard for all aspects of the queen, immersing the reader not only in the coming-of-age of a graceful woman, but in the culture of an unparalleled time and place.
Published Reviews
Booklist Review: "Did Marie Antoinette, the notorious and ill-fated queen of France, actually respond to the peasants' clamor for bread with, "Let them eat cake" ? Such myths and fallacies associated with the consort of the guillotined Louis XVI are cleared up in this vivid, well-rounded biography by the popular British author of, among other well-received works, Mary Queen of Scots (1969) and Royal Charles: Charles II and the Restoration (1979). Marie Antoinette was dispatched to the French court as a teenage bride by her mother, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, to cement an alliance between the two "superpowers." Marie's intended role was to function as a spy-agent for the Austrian imperial court. She had been raised with a certain informality, a sensibility she brought with her to the opulent Palace of Versailles, but Fraser is quick to admit to Marie's extravagance once she became queen. Even though Marie's marriage to Louis XVI proved problematic, the king never took a mistress; however, Marie got saddled with a reputation for taking lovers of both sexes. Although Marie had no real taste for politics, the revolution proved fatal for her, but Fraser concludes, "her weaknesses, although manifest, were of trivial worth in the balance of her misfortune." --Brad Hooper"
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Publisher's Weekly Review: "A child-princess is married off to a husband of limited carnal appetite. Her indiscretions and navet, scorned by elderly dowagers, are coupled with charity, joie de vivre and almost divine glamour but her life is cut brutally short. The queen of France's life is rich in emotional resonance, riddled with sexual subplots and personal tragedies, and provides fertile ground for biographers. Fraser's sizable new portrait avoids the saccharine romance of Evelyne Lever's recent Marie Antoinette, balancing empathy for the pleasure-loving queen with an awareness of the inequalities that fed revolution after all, Marie herself was fully conscious of them. Her subject shows no let-them-eat cake arrogance, but is deeply (even surprisingly) compassionate, with a "public reputation for sweetness and mercy" that is only later sullied by vituperative pamphleteers and bitter unrest. She would sometimes be trapped by ingenuousness, and later by a fatal sense of duty. Yet her graceful bearing, acquired under the tutelage of her demanding mother, the empress Maria Teresa, made her an unusually popular princess before she was scapegoated as "Madame Deficit" and much, much worse. The portrait is drawn delicately, with pleasant touches of humor (a long-awaited baby is conceived around the time of Benjamin Franklin's visit: "Perhaps the King found this first contact with the virile New World inspirational"). Fraser's approach is controlled and thoughtful, avoiding the extravagance of Alison Weir's royal biographies. Her queen is neither heroine nor villain, but a young wife and mother who, in her journey into maturity, finds herself caught in a deadly vise. Color and b&w illus. (on sale: Sept. 18) Forecast: Fraser needs no introduction to American audiences. She will come over from England for a five-city tour, and with widespreand favorable reviews, this should have no trouble making the bestseller lists. It's a BOMC, History Book Club, Literary Guild and QPB selection. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved"
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Additional Information
Subjects Marie Antoinette, -- Queen, consort of Louis XVI, King of France, -- 1755-1793.
Queens -- France -- Biography.
France -- History -- Louis XVI, 1774-1793.
Publisher New York :Anchor Books,2002
Edition 1st Anchor Books ed.
Language English
Notes "The book that inspired the film" (Cover)
Description xxii, 512 pages, 48 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), map ; 21 cm
Bibliography Notes Includes bibliographical references (pages 479-490) and index.
ISBN 9780307277749
0385489498 (pbk.) :
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