Farewell, My Queen

by Chantal Thomas

Book Overview

It was once the job of Madame Agathe-Sidonie Laborde to read books aloud to Marie-Antoinette. Now exiled in Vienna, she looks back twenty-one years to the legendary opulence of Versailles and meticulously reconstructs July 14, 15, and 16 of 1789.
When Agathe-Sidonie is summoned to the Queen's side on the morning of the 14th, Versailles is a miniature universe, sparkling with every outward appearance of happiness and power, peopled with nobles...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743260783
• ISBN13: 9780743260787
• Release Date: July 2004
• Publisher: Atria Books
• Length: 233 Pages
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A incredible historical-fiction journey

Even if you aren't familiar with the French Revolution, you are immediately transported into this turbulent time period. The reader is immediately able to empathsize with the main characters. I couldn't put this book down. It is an awesome read! PS: You will also thoroughly enjoy, "The Lost King of France A True Story of Revolution, Revenge and DNA". This is also an example of literary genius.

brilliant historical fiction

Two decades have passed since the momentous events of the final days of the reign of King Louis XVI and his Queen Marie-Antoinette. The Queen's deputy reader, Madam Agathe-Sidonie Laborde, from the safety of her Vienna apartment looks back to the revolutionary fervor that beheaded the monarchy and recalls that final month in the summer of `89. Leading up to the three heated July days, the opulent aristocracy including the king refused to believe the unrest would turn violent. Instead they lived in splendor in the Versailles Palace accompanied by rats, insects, and disease as to be expected when one builds on a swamp. By the time the court accepted reality, it proved too late for most although Madam Laborde, in a desperate Hail Mary escape attempt knowing that anyone associated with the crown was subject to Madam Guillotine, obviously succeeded so that she can share her memories of those days that changed the world forever.This brilliant work of historical fiction shines quite a fabulous light on mostly Marie Antoinette in her final days, but also the rest of the French Court as the Revolution erupts. The tale provides the most intimate levels of detail that history ignores (a luxurious castle overrun by vermin stunned this reviewer). Madam Laborde's account is so dramatic and specific even to the smallest tidbits that the audience ends up with a terrific work of fiction that provides an insightful reality of the era, so much so that audience will feel they are standing in the dark along side the frightened queen who tried to flee when it was too late. Historical readers including non-fiction fans will treasure this incredible creative masterpiece.Harriet Klausner

Great Read!

Presented in memoir form, this beautifully written book is told from the perspective of Marie Antoinette's reader. It is fascinating to read about daily life in the Chateau de Versailles on the brink of Revolution as well as the post-revolution emigre experience. Of the myriad new historical fiction, most of which are poorly written, this is a gem; it is a shame that this is not too well known.

Bastille Day remembered

This is the way I like to read history, from the point of view of a nobody caught in the unavoidable currents of destiny. Chantal Thomas comes by her knowledge honestly having been the Director of Research at the Centre National de le Recherche Scientifique, specializing in 18th literature.Meet Agathe Laborde who is remembering from her exile in Vienna, those fateful July days of 1789 when, in her youth, she was reader to the myopic, charismatic Marie Antoinette in her fabulous Versailles court.FAREWELL, MY QUEEN is one of RebeccasReads highly recommended books, rich with earthy insights into & half-glimpsed intrigues of a long lost way of life where adoration of & loyalty to royalty could cost you your life.

A wonderful read

...This is a wonderful, atmospheric book that in my mind really succeeded in giving a sense of the ways that the French Revolution completely took apart the aristocracy. Thomas helps the reader to understand how it must have felt to feel the very marble floors crumbling under your feet, as everything you knew is suddenly gone. It's clear, also, what a house of cards it was -- full of gold, diamonds, and mirrors, to be sure, but a house of cards nevertheless, completely dependent on the support of a vast system of nobles, retainers, servants, etc. etc. I liked the narrator very much, and felt real pity for the king and queen, even as I thought, "You brought it all on yourself." Give "Farewell, My Queen," a try.