This was an enjoyable, light historical fiction read. If you are looking for a meaty, comprehensive HF read on Marie Antoinette this will probably disappoint. But if you are being introduced to Marie Antoinette or the French Revolution this should be a perfect fit. This reminded me of Robin Maxwell's The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn.
Erickson's use of the diary format gives you the immediacy of being transported to the French courts. The picking of fabrics for gowns, the elaborate hair designs, the embroidered slippers, all these frivolous but joyful things that help Marie Antoinette cope with the disappointments of her marriage and trying to fit in at this foreign court and its workings. Erickson does paint a sympathetic figure but does not shy away from showing how out of touch she was with the common people, both her lack of understanding and sympathy and her belief from birth that royalty are indeed above the people. Erickson lets us see her growth from a young woman, girl really, to a wife who grows genuinely fond of her husband and a loving mother. Her maturation and acceptance of what is happening is compelling and poignant for the reader.
Erickson's use of the diary format gives you the immediacy of being transported to the French courts. The picking of fabrics for gowns, the elaborate hair designs, the embroidered slippers, all these frivolous but joyful things that help Marie Antoinette cope with the disappointments of her marriage and trying to fit in at this foreign court and its workings. Erickson does paint a sympathetic figure but does not shy away from showing how out of touch she was with the common people, both her lack of understanding and sympathy and her belief from birth that royalty are indeed above the people. Erickson lets us see her growth from a young woman, girl really, to a wife who grows genuinely fond of her husband and a loving mother. Her maturation and acceptance of what is happening is compelling and poignant for the reader.
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