Tea at Trianon: A Place to Call Home

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, August 31, 2014

A Place to Call Home

A Place to Call Home is the debut thriller of Maryland author Amy Schisler. In striking contrast to the quaintness of the Eastern Shore where the story is set, the book deals with corruption and crime in government circles, particularly the scourge of human trafficking. The heroine, Susan O'Neil, finds two small children picking through her garbage for food. She takes them in, and before long her life is in danger. She finds herself thrown into the company of officer Jim Russell, an old flame of her youth, and together they and the two hunted children embark on an odyssey of peril and discovery. The novel is coherently written with some believable characters. For any native Marylander, it is fun to read about familiar places in such an adventurous context. Baltimore is the city of iniquity from which the various evildoers sally forth, which is fictional but perhaps not entirely. The latest technology is used to outwit the criminals, as well as common sense and courage. The action begins on the first page and does not end until the ending. I especially like it that the heroine is someone I can respect for her determination to mother and protect the traumatized children, and in that context the hero discovers he is in love with her. Where there are those trying to destroy youth and innocence, there are others who at great cost to themselves are trying to salvage broken lives. It is a novel of hope as well as one of adventure.

*NOTE: This book was sent to me by the author in exchange for my honest opinion. Share