Tea at Trianon: The Flower Reader

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

Sunday, May 20, 2012

The Flower Reader

The turbulent court of Mary Queen of Scots is the backdrop of The Flower Reader, which tells the tale of Marina Leslie of Granmuir and her struggle for survival in Reformation Scotland. Of mixed French and Scots descent, “Rinette,” as she is called, possesses a clairvoyant gift which is stirred by the presence of flowers. Nevertheless, having the knowledge of future events does not prevent her from being almost continuously in trouble.

A distant relative and protégée of Marie de Guise, Rinette is entrusted by Marie with a silver casket of Nostradamus’ prophecies which must be delivered to no one but young Queen Mary. While determined to fulfill her promise to the late Queen, Rinette is also intent upon marrying young Alexander Gordon, whom she not only loves but who will help her to keep her lands out of the hands of more powerful nobles. When Alexander is killed by a mysterious assassin, Rinette must use the hidden silver casket as a bargaining chip to save not only her patrimony but to obtain Queen Mary’s help in bringing his assassin to justice. Nothing turns out as she plans, however; very few characters are what she first thinks them to be, except of course Rannoch Hamilton, who proves to be a greater wretch than Rinette ever suspected.

Mary Stuart is portrayed in all the fullness of her enchanting youth: impulsive and sweet, majestic and clever but also vain, naïve, temperamental and slightly neurotic. Her court is brought to life, as are the various factions and plots which rend Scotland asunder and lead to Mary’s downfall. Loupas accurately depicts a stormy, complex era by means of a page-turning mystery and romance.

This review originally appeared in the May 2012 edition of the Historical Novels Review.

(*NOTE: This book was sent to me by the Historical Novel Society in exchange for my honest opinion.)

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