Marie Antoinette

Those are the skeletal facts of her life, but Fraser fleshes out the story with her customary composed authority. Her stated ambition is twofold. The book's subtitle, "The Journey", refers to Marie Antoinette's political significance in a union over which she had no control, but also her own personal story, from the ill-educated, overwhelmed teenage bride to the despised monarch who bore the brunt of all the ills of the ancien régime. Fraser, arch debunker, necessarily removes the apocryphal--Mozart the child prodigy saying that he would marry her, the infamous "let them eat cake" comment that preceded her by several hundred years, dressing as a milkmaid at her model village in the grounds of Versailles--to reveal a woman whose misfortunes, she concludes, outweighed her failures. Like the Jemima Shore detective novels she also pens, Fraser displays an unerring ability to ask the right questions. Most of all, though, she writes with an understated, unadorned clarity that imparts her learning with an ease to be both envied and savoured. In 1789, Marie Antoinette famously said to a deputation from the Commune of Paris, "I've seen everything, known everything, and forgotten everything". There could be no wiser, compassionate and judicious reclaimer of her besmirched reputation than Antonia Fraser.--David Vincent

Reader Reviews:

Excellent read - a little one sided. (0/0 people found this helpful)

I've recently become interested in this period in history and found this book very enjoyable. It was an excellent read, and although a "heavy" book I had no trouble getting through it. It tells a lovely story from Antoinette's point of view and I was left with a distinct dislike for the revolution. However, having read other texts, this book could leave you with a biased viewpoint as Antonia Fraser fails to explain the problems in France that led to the Revolution. Although I enjoyed the book I was left with a slightly bitter taste in my mouth that made me feel I hadn't got the full picture. Enjoy the book but make sure you read the whole story some where else.

A convert (9/12 people found this helpful)

Less than a year ago I wrote a review of this book, giving it 3*. A lot of what I said then still carries weight - I'm not convinced of the whole Fersen aspect of things, etc. However, upon reading this book more thoroughly I confess that I have been converted by the author's talent as a writer and the sympathy she evokes for Mare-Antoinette's fate. Without doubt, this is the finest biography of Marie-Antoinette currently in print.

Perhaps not quite the definitive biography (18/18 people found this helpful)

I don't think it's particularly fair to label this book (as one Amazon reviewer has done) as "a royalist's view" of French history - although, interestingly, in terms of Marie-Antoinette's life, royalists have traditionally gotten it more right than others. I'd also completely reject the notion that this is "definitive" and/or "overly preferential to its subject."

This book's plus points are the wealth of detail Antonia Fraser presents about court etiquette at Versailles; the way in which minor characters, like the Queen's maid Rosalie Lamorliere, are brought to life, and its excellent epilogue which explores Marie-Antoinette's place in history and the tragedy behind this most public of royal lives.

However, at times Antonia Fraser seems to be almost tripping over herself to be PC and unbiased. We're so used to hearing detrimental things about Marie-Antoinette that any biographer who goes complete the grain will inevitably be accused of "whitewashing." But the truth is that the real Marie-Antoinette bears almost no resemblance to the Marie-Antoinette of popular imagination, so why did Antonia Fraser's "defence" of this queen seem convoluted and riddled with qualifiers? More accurate portraits of Marie-Antoinette's character and her role as queen have been presented in two modern studies - "The Lost King of France" by Deborah Cadbury and "The Fall of the French Monarchy" by Dr. Munro Price.

Antonia Fraser also fails to fully explain Marie-Antoinette's enormous political influence after 1789, something properly highlighted in Price's book. It's also true that the book at times fails to convey the full gritty reality of 18th-century life, which perhaps would have been useful in explaining why Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette were determined to uphold such high moral standards (thus partially alienating them from certain circles of the aristocracy) after the debauched decadence of Louis XV's reign.

And as for Marie-Antoinette's "affair" with Count Fersen, Antonia Fraser's assertion that the two enjoyed a couvert affair is based more upon wishful thinking than a balanced assessment of the facts. Marie-Antoinette's position made adultery impossible, it could never have been kept a secret, and her up-bringing and personality both conspired to make it fundamentally unlikely that she would commit adultery with anyone. Their relationship was one of the many Marie-Antoinette found safety in - romantic, artificial, non-sexual gallantry.

This biography is an enjoyable one, and Antonia Fraser has done a good job in partially resurrecting Marie-Antoinette from the "rubbish bin of history" but there's still a long way to go before this unlucky queen's "definitive biography" is written.

A cracking piece of popular history. (11/14 people found this helpful)

This was the first book by Antonia Fraser I had read, and also the first book relating to the French revolution. Indeed, my knowledge of French history runs from Francis I to Henry IV, so it would be apt to describe myself as a stranger to the period of history Fraser was writing about. It was with great pleasure, therefore, that I found this to be one of the most accessible history books I have read in some time.

Marie Antoinette is usually castigated as a monster of history, yet Fraser does an admirable job in demolishing the myths surrounding her subject. From the notorious “let them eat cake” incident to her numerous alleged infidelities, the stories surrounding Antoinette are effectively demolished, and what we are left with is a surprisingly vulnerable woman.

The Antoinette of this book is constrained from many different sources, and in such a way as to negate the criticisms levelled at her. Her femininity was used as a political tool to form alliances through marriage, and it was from this point that her problems began to build up. The Hapsburgs who she was leaving behind expected her to exert a robust influence at court, yet at Versailles she found a system where woman were not allowed to have a voice, and where her primary function was to provide children for France. She was at the mercy of her husband in this, who was unable to consummate the marriage for a number of years, leaving her vulnerable to claims that the children she bore were not fathered by Louis VXI. The frustrations of the Hapsburgs demonstrate that when the castigation started, the picture of her as l'Autrichienne was exaggerated. She became a scapegoat for the failings of the ancien régime, when she had had little to do with the decision making process.

The book has been criticised by a number of other Amazon reviewers for not covering the cause and effect of the French Revolution enough. Yet it is to Fraser’s credit that she has represented events only from Antoinette’s point of view. The book is meant to centre upon Antoinette, not events happening around her, and the revolution with reference to Antoinette is well documented, and is a worthy attempt to present events from her point of view, instead of providing any moral or political justification for what happened..

Overall this is a superb biography. Fraser’s writing is clear and precise, and she applies insightful analysis to all the major events of Antoinette’s reign. She steers away from any sort of agenda, and does acknowledge her failings, even allowing for the indulgences of the court. The minutia of the court is well documented also, and anyone with a passing interest in royalty or history, would find that interest well served by this book.

The journey - Marie Antoinette (4/5 people found this helpful)

From the Beginings of a political pawn in Austrian-French politics, Antonia Fraser takes us on the Journey of Marie Antoinette's life.

Fabulously written, with womanly flair, Antonia Fraser once again shows her extensive research on her subject.

In gripping style, the author relates to the reader the "travesty" of the trial, and the "humiliating" death of Marie Antoinette, as impartially as possible, although one cannot help but get caught up in the emotion of it.

A brilliant read, leaving the reader wondering what did become of the royal children, and what has happened since. Which the author also provides in her epilogue.

Antonia Fraser

Editorial Review: