Book Review: The Queen’s Lover
Media Type: Print Book (ARC)
Title: The Queen’s Lover
Author: Francine Du Plessix Gray
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: Hardcover; 300
Release Date: June 14, 2012
Source: Publisher / TLC Book Tours
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Genre: Historical Fiction
HDB Rating: 4 Keys to My Heart
Recommended to: Fans of this genre, but also fans of this time period as well.
Add it on: Goodreads / Shelfari / Amazon / B&N
Historical fiction of the highest order, The Queen’s Lover reveals the untold love affair between Swedish aristocrat Count Axel Von Fersen and Marie Antoinette
The Queen’s Lover begins at a masquerade ball in Paris in 1774, when the dashing Swedish nobleman Count Axel Von Fersen first meets the mesmerizing nineteen-year old Dauphine Marie Antoinette, wife of the shy, reclusive prince who will soon become Louis XVI. This electric encounter launches a life-long romance that will span the course of the French Revolution. The affair begins in friendship, however, and Fersen quickly becomes a devoted companion to the entire royal family. As he roams through the halls of Versailles and visits the private haven of Petit Trianon, Fersen discovers the deepest secrets of the court, even learning about the startling erotic details of Marie-Antoinette’s marriage to Louis XVI. But the events of the American Revolution tear Fersen away. Moved by the colonists’ fight for freedom, he is one of the very first to enlist in the French contingent of troops that will fight for America’s independence.
When he returns, he finds France on the brink of disintegration. After the Revolution of 1789 the royal family is moved from Versailles to the Tuileries. Fersen devises an escape for the family and their young children–Marie-Thérèse and the Dauphin Louis-Charles–whom many suspect to be Fersen’s son. The failed evasion attempt eventually leads to a grueling imprisonment, and the family spends its excruciating final days in captivity before the King and Queen face the guillotine. –Click HERE for more
The Queen’s Lover reads as Count von Fersen’s memoir, showing us his life through a long stream of letters and diary entries. There is quite a lot of his thoughts recorded here and I’ll admit that it was rather fascinating. The one thing that threw me off almost instantly though, was that this is much more Count von Fersen’s story, and not so much Marie Antoinette’s. Out of the entire book there is maybe a third that actually mentions their relationship with one another. The rest is a very detailed look at his travels, and his (ahem) conquests.