Sunday, January 12, 2014

Review of Mistress of the Revolution






Mistress of the Revolution
By
Catherine Delors
Publisher: Dutton Adult
Pub. Date: 2008
ISBN: 978-0525950547
Pages:  451
Genre:
Historical Fiction/Romance?
Source:
public library
Goodreads
Reading Challenge
Buy Link

Review:
A few years ago, I discovered Catherine Delors through her excellent historical novel For The King, so I decided to read her previous one, Mistress of the Revolution.
The book opens in London in 1815, about 20 years after the French Revolution. The narrator Gabrielle de Montserrat reminisces about these events and the following years by writing about them.
After difficult beginnings in the Auvergne region, she is taken to Paris and presented at the court of Versailles, where she is introduced to all the intrigues and affairs. She is helped financially by Villers (a Duchess’s son) and becomes his lover. He gets politically involved, on the wrong side when monarchy is soon to be ended.
Gabrielle is by now lady-in-waiting to the Countess of Provence (the king’s sister-in-law). She ends up getting arrested herself. Will she humble herself, and try to get help from Pierre-André, the sweet heart of her youth, a commoner who made his way up and has now strong political influence in Paris? Would he or even could he really help her?

I’ll let you read the book to figure out.
I found the novel to be somewhat longer than needed. However, the author did an amazing job on the historical background, before, during, and after the French Revolution, with all the main characters and political parties of the time, basically from 1784 to 1794, including a bit on Napoleon.
There were fantastic descriptions of life at Versailles, reflecting quite well it seems what the common French people thought about Marie-Antoinette once she became queen. There’s hardly any sympathy at all shown here in the narrative toward her.
There was maybe a bit too much of romance elements in this historical novel for me, but it will make it dearer to those who like the mix of romance and historical novel.

Come this way please to know more about it and watch a great trailer!


*Disclaimer - I checked out this book at my public library

 About the Author:
Author of Mistress of the Revolution and For the King (publication date: July 8, 2010). Both are historical novels set in Paris around the time of the French Revolution.
Catherine was born and raised in France. She is also an attorney with an international practice, and splits her time between Paris, London and Los Angeles.
Visit her blog, Versailles and more, at http://blog.catherinedelors.com. [Goodreads]



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