Days of Splendor, Days of Sorrow
Read Days of Splendor, Days of Sorrow Online
Authors: Juliet Grey
“Full of sumptuous and well-researched details …
Becoming Marie Antoinette
by Juliet Grey, the first novel in a new trilogy, gives readers a more sympathetic look than usual at the ill-fated French queen.”
—
Examiner.com
(five stars)
“In her richly imagined novel, Juliet Grey meticulously re-creates the sumptuous court of France’s most tragic queen. Beautifully written, with attention paid to even the smallest detail,
Becoming Marie Antoinette
will leave readers wanting more!”
—M
ICHELLE
M
ORAN
, bestselling author of
Madame Tussaud
“This is historical fiction at its finest.”
—A Library of My Own
“Fans of historical fiction will eat this one up. It’s engaging, smart, and authentic. Grey has done her homework.”
—January Magazine
“Grey possesses the rare ability to transform readers to a past only accessible by imagination.
Becoming Marie Antoinette
is sure to appeal to lovers of quality historical fiction.”
—The Well Read Wife
“[A] lively, well-written promenade through pre-Revolution France … It’s history with a spoonful of sugar—and that’s never a bad thing.”
—The Decatur Daily
“A thoroughly enjoyable novel, brimming with delightful details. Grey writes eloquently and with charming humor, bringing ‘Toinette’ vividly to life as she is schooled and groomed—molded, quite literally—for a future as Queen of France, an innocent pawn in a deadly political game.”
—S
ANDRA
G
ULLAND
, bestselling author of
Mistress of the Sun
and the Josephine Bonaparte trilogy
“
C’est magnifique!
A very entertaining read, one that I was hard-pressed to put down … [I] am waiting (ever so impatiently) for book two in the trilogy.”
—Passages to the Past
“Smart, yet extremely engaging …
Becoming Marie Antoinette
will please fans of historical fiction.”
—Confessions of a Book Addict
“A great read that is sure to be requested by lovers of historical fiction, especially those who enjoyed Michelle Moran’s
Madame Tussaud
and other novels about the French Revolution.”
—
Library Journal
“Everything is so vividly described that you feel as though you are right there experiencing it all. This novel is very well written and it captivates you from the very beginning.”
—Peeking Between the Pages
“It is a captivating and well-thought-out book, and one that raises this woman of history to the point of a living person, which the reader finds easy to identify with and relate to.”
—The Book Worm’s Library
“Readers will see Marie Antoinette in a whole new light.… A sympathetic and engaging read that presents the French queen in a manner seldom found in other novels … Anyone interested in French history will savor every page of this novel.”
—BookLoons
“[A] fine fictional account of this very real, audacious world and the transformation of a naive, unsure girl into a formidable worldly leader! Superbly done!”
—Crystal Book Reviews
“A lusciously detailed novel of Marie Antoinette’s rise to power and the decadent, extravagant lifestyles of eighteenth-century Versailles.”
—Shelf Awareness
“Well-researched and lovingly written with sparkling details—this new trilogy is not one to be missed by any lover of historical fiction.”
—Stiletto Storytime
“Completely enthralling. Although this is written as a work of fiction, every person and event was researched and so the two blend seamlessly.”
—Ex Libris
“This novel was by far the best I have read that tackles such an interesting and misunderstood queen. Grey weaves fun scandals into the history we all know.”
—Mostly Books
“A lively and sensitive portrait of a young princess in a hostile court, and one of the most sympathetic portrayals of the doomed queen.”
—L
AUREN
W
ILLIG
, bestselling author of the Pink Carnation series
“Wonderfully delectable and lusciously rich, an elegant novel to truly savor. Juliet Grey’s Marie Antoinette is completely absorbing.”
—D
IANE
H
AEGER
, author of
The Queen’s Rival
“Maria Antonia, Austrian princess. What an amazing person. I absolutely loved each detail that Grey put into her. I could feel her emotions, and her struggles as she grew from Maria Antonia to Marie Antoinette, Queen of France.”
—Reviews by Molly
“A truly engaging novel with fantastic historical details, well-fleshed-out characters, depth and emotion. I can’t wait for the second and third books, and even though I know how it will end … I keep hoping it won’t.”
—The Loud Librarian
“Very well written, with fantastic descriptions of life in Vienna and Versailles. Grey has done quite a bit of research, as she explains in her author’s note, and almost everything she uses is true to history. She does an excellent job of matching the personalities of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI.”
—Medieval Bookworm
“Meticulously researched, Marie Antoinette comes to life in this first in a trilogy about her life. The reader will never look at the French Revolution in the same way again.”
—That’s What She Read
“A very entertaining and rich read, filled to the brim with historical detail. Recommended to readers of historical fiction of all stripes.”
—Raging Bibliomania
“Grey’s novel has a little bit of everything: the glitz and glamour of the French court, young love, and international politics. The most enjoyable aspect of the book is seeing Marie find her own way and becoming her own person.”
—Historical Novels Review
Days of Splendor, Days of Sorrow
is a work of historical fiction. Apart from the well-known actual people, events, and locales that figure in the narrative, all names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to current events or locales, or to living persons, is entirely coincidental.
A Ballantine Books eBook Edition
Copyright © 2012 by Leslie Carroll
Random House reading group guide copyright © 2012 by Random House, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
B
ALLANTINE
and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc. R
ANDOM
H
OUSE
R
EADER’S
C
IRCLE
& Design is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc.
eISBN: 978-0-345-52389-1
www.randomhousereaderscircle.com
Cover design: Thomas Beck Stvan
Cover photograph illustration: Alan Ayers
v3.1
All Queens should resemble the wives of Louis XIV and Louis XV, who knew no other passions than that of doing good … A Queen who is crowned for no other purpose than to amuse herself is a fatal acquisition to a people charged to defray the cost
.
—Anonymous enemy of Marie Antoinette, Spring 1774
JUNE
21, 1786
On this day the sun casts the longest shadows of the year. But in the cobblestone courtyard of the Palais de Justice, they are made that much deeper by the looming scaffold erected two days earlier—plenty of time to allow a prodigious crowd to assemble, provisioned with thin blankets and enough cheese, bread, and cheap wine to sustain them. Some have come to the Cour de Mai lured by the sounds of the workmen hammering wooden boards into a raised platform that in itself betokens something sensational. There is nothing like a public exhibition to take their minds off an empty pocket. Or an empty belly. It doesn’t even matter who will take the stage.
