Tea at Trianon: A Review and a Book Tour

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

Saturday, November 13, 2021

A Review and a Book Tour

Here is a review of My Queen, My Love from Emily-Jane Hills Orford for Readers’ Favorites:

Henriette-Marie, the youngest daughter of King Henri IV of France, knows her destiny. She is a princess, after all, and princesses must marry princes. Little does she know that her royal husband, Charles Stuart, Prince of Wales, would also become the love of her life. Her stout Catholic upbringing is a problem, though, as England continues to harbor ill feelings toward Catholics. Even though Henriette-Marie and her husband both care for their people, in the end, it’s the people who turn against them. History, unfortunately, tends to repeat itself as monarchs both before and after the era of the Royal Stuarts faced unfathomable obstacles and dire consequences. Henriette-Marie’s life can be viewed as both a love story and a tragedy as the young princess follows her new consort to England where she must face the unsettled times of English Civil Wars of the seventeenth century. Elena Maria Vidal’s historical romance, My Queen, My Love: A Novel of Henrietta Maria [Henriette-Marie], is the first book in a new series, the Henrietta of France trilogy. The author is well versed in English and French history, having written several historical fiction novels before this one. The plot begins and ends with a first-person narrative from Henriette-Marie’s mother’s point of view and then evolves into the third-person narrative of the protagonist, Henriette-Marie. The switch in times and points of view are well constructed and the reader manoeuvres the switch with ease. Character development, descriptive narrative, and dialogue are both engaging and entertaining as the reader is swept into the budding romance between the French princess and the Prince of Wales, as well as the growing political conflicts and discords that will persistently haunt their married life. Like the works by Sharon Kay Penman and other exceptional historical fiction authors, My Queen, My Love takes the reader on an intense journey back in time, allowing the reader to feel immersed in the era, the events, the people, the loves and the tragedies (and so much more). Beautifully told.

Attention book bloggers! R&R Book Tours is planning a December blog tour and giveaway for My Queen, My Love. For more information, go HERE.