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Sunday, December 7, 2008

The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette by Carolly Erickson

The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette does just what it says on the tin. It's a novel, in diary form, told in the voice of Marie Antoinette.
I'm not usually a fan of novels told in letter or diary form but this was very easy to read and makes me want to dig out a biography of the queen. Handily enough, Erickson has written one so I'm putting that on my to-read list.
The diary is written in a very chatty style, as Marie Antoinette transitions from being a young Austrian princess, to the Queen of France.
It is, obviously, written through a period of tremendous upheaval for France and despite the fact it's all a matter of historical record now, in parts of it I was reading right along with Marie Antoinette holding my breath, and hoping she would find a way to save her family, which is a tribute to the immediacy of the diary style of writing.
A good summer read. :)


Also reviewed here:
http://readingadventures.blogspot.com/2006/01/hidden-diary-of-marie-antoinette-by.html

1 comment:

Joanne ♦ The Book Zombie said...

This sounds really interesting, I will add this to my reading list :)