Hello,

Iamnew to the forum and this web site, so I apologize if thisinformation is somewhereobvious that I have not thought of.I amvery interested inbooks that explain the details of the court during marie Antointette's time. Are there such books?

Also, can the memoirs ofVigee le Brun,MadameRoyal and Lamballebe found in English translations? I have looked,but withno luck.

Thanks so much.

Louisette

Ah! Hello, my Louisette!
This post belongs on the literature board, but I would be happy to answer this question!
I must recommend "Marie Antoinette: The Journey". However, this book embraces the Comte de Fersen myth, which I do not support. Overall, however, I do like this book.
If you have not read Madame Campan's memoirs (in english), I would recommend doing so. Madame delivers a wonderful story, and I own this book.
I believe Lamballe and Lebrun's memoirs are in english, but I was not aware Madame Royale had memoirs. I should like to read them!
Stay away from Erikson. She not only lies, but I do not enjoy her style in "The Hidden Diary".

Merci bien, MME!

a book by evelyn lever is also quite good...

les memoires de madame de Tourzel

Bonjour Louisette,

I offer you a hearty welcome to this site!
Castelot's book is quite good so far. I would also recommend Antoinia Fraser's Marie Antoinette aussi.

I' m looking for a heavily illustrated book of her life and times--I'm sure its out of print however it had reprints of actual fabric and dresses which she chose by sticking pins into the choices for that day in the album. I gave this book to a library in a regrettable fit of generosity and would like to replace it. Cannot recal the title or author. Help.

Perhaps you could track the book you donated back in the library,(if it is a local library) find the author and the title and see if you can replace it from there. And you can perhaps find the book in the historical section of the library. Otherwise I don't really quite know what to say.

I'm rereading The Journey by Antonia Fraser and loving it again. I shall have to purchase this book. I love it. I want a copy I can highlight and dog-ear.

To the Scaffold: the life and times of Marie Anotinette
Versailles
Abundance
Marie Antoinette: the Journey

Love Letters and the Romantic Novel during the Napoleonic Wars 978-1-4438-0127-0
http://www.cambridgescholars.com/love-l ... eonic-wars
Author(s): Sharon Worley
Contributors: Sharon Worley; Cambridge Scholars Press (2016)
Love letters during the Napoleonic wars were largely framed by concepts of love which were promoted through novels and philosophy. The standard texts, so to speak, which were written by major authors who inherited this Enlightenment bearing, responded to the emerging concepts of love found in novels and philosophical essays. Love among this Napoleonic coterie is unique because it demonstrates the reciprocal relationship between the love letter and the romantic novel. Germaine de Staël, Juiette Récamier, Chateaubriand, Benjamin Constant, Lady Emma Hamilton, Napoleon Bonaparte and his brother, Lucien Bonaparte, were the authors and recipients of some of the most passionate love letters of this period. They were also avid readers of the newly emerging genre of the romantic novel, and many of them were also authors of such works where they projected their personal romances onto the characterization of their fictional heroes and heroines. In addition, these authors had lived through the recent French Revolution and the Terror. Imprisoned during the Revolution, or branded as emigrés upon their return to Paris, their mature adult lives were spent in the shadows of the Napoleonic wars in which they shifted political loyalties as the specter of Napoleon’s powers grew from First Consul to Emperor of Europe. The looming threat of war ignited the depths of their passions and inspired their intellectual analysis of love, happiness and suicide. Their evolving concept of love was a romantic, all-consuming passion which gripped the lovers in fatal embraces. This book’s analysis of their love letters and romantic novels reveals the emerging political landscape of the period through extended metaphors of love and patriotism.