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Abundance, A Novel of Marie Antoinette

(P.S.)

By Sena Jeter Naslund

(4)

| Paperback | 9780060825409

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Book Description

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 stronContinue

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.

Critics

  • Bookreporter.com - ABUNDANCE: A Novel of Marie Antoinette by Sena Jeter Naslund

    According to this novel, much of what we think we know about Marie Antoinette is false, beginning with that famous line about letting the peasants eat cake. Sena Jeter Naslund's foreword to this "imaginative re-creation" informs us that there's no ev ... (read full critics)

    bookreporter published on Thu, 2 Sep 2010

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  • Marie-Antoinette, the Queen of Clouds

    Marie Antoinette has been known throughout history as a selfish, excessive and wanton woman. Like many other biographies, the author has painted a more balanced view of Marie Antoinette.

    Innocent, ignorant, self-centered maybe. She called herself the Queen of Clouds, living her life, her head ... (continue)

    Marie Antoinette has been known throughout history as a selfish, excessive and wanton woman. Like many other biographies, the author has painted a more balanced view of Marie Antoinette.

    Innocent, ignorant, self-centered maybe. She called herself the Queen of Clouds, living her life, her head in the clouds, ignorant of what was going onoutside her idyllic world... until she woke up but too late. But she was never a monster.

    The author has brillantly recounted the life of Marie Antoinette in all her shades of grey but never to black ... The book is a very pleasant read. Even her last years in the hands of her enemies are described in kind, gentle words.

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    jacoutofthebox said on Sep 12, 2008 | Add your feedback

Book Details

  • Rating:
    (4)
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  • English Books
  • Paperback 592 Pages
  • ISBN-10: 0060825405
  • ISBN-13: 9780060825409
  • Publisher: Harper Perennial
  • Pub date: Jun 01, 2007
  • Dimensions: 1290 mm x 839 mm x 194 mm Just how big is that?
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9780060825409 Paperback $15.95 $11.48 bn.com
$15.95 $13.42 The Book Depository
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