Tea at Trianon: Faithful Unto Death

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, November 28, 2011

Faithful Unto Death

Based upon an actual event, Becky Thacker spins a psychological drama set in a Michigan farming community where, amid the austerity of Bible Christianity and Victorian prudery, a woman dies in agony and a family is almost destroyed. Written with clarity and restraint, Thacker explores the mysterious death of her own great grandmother, Anna Thacker, weaving extracts from court records, letters, and newspapers into a seamless narrative. Was it murder or suicide? Anna’s children stand helplessly by as their mother succumbs to a mysterious illness and their father is accused of poisoning her. While determined to clear their father’s name, the five Thacker children, under the guidance of determined Ralph and gentle Lottie, band together to hang onto their home and to each other. They realize, as does the reader, that their quiet, self-effacing mother has been the strength of the family. One sees that the influence of a strict but loving mother can never be underestimated, for Anna keeps her family going long after her death. In the meantime, the youngsters must deal with scheming Aunt Charlotte, Anna’s pietistic sister, whose jealousy of Anna and her husband William is always seeking an outlet. The author skillfully builds layer upon layer of layer of enigma. Do Charlotte’s problems originate with the murder of her own mother during an Indian raid? Would devout Anna really have committed suicide? Should Ralph burn Charlotte’s journal which provides more information than he ever wanted to know about her twisted mind? These questions, and many others, are part of the story of the Thacker family, brought to life with vividly accurate descriptions of the bleak conditions of farm life as well as the moments of warmth and amity by the fireside.

(*NOTE: This review was originally published in the November 2011 issue of the Historical Novels Review. Faithful Unto Death was sent to me by the Historical Novel Society in exchange for my honest opinion.)

pacwp said...: The book sounds so interesting! Your description was so clear and vivid, I really want to get the book and start reading!; November 28, 2011 at 1:08:00 PM EST