Will Bashor

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: A historical novel inspired by real events, The Bastard Prince of Versailles narrates the escapades of a misborn "prince" during the reign of Louis XIV in seventeenth-century France.

Louis de Bourbon wasn't a real prince—even though his father was King Louis XIV. The illegitimate son of the King and his mistress, Louise de La Vallière, young Louis has been kept far from the court's eyes until summoned to bid adieu to his mother. To atone for her show more adultery, she joins a convent, abandoning Louis to an uncertain future.

When Louis is humiliated by his father for his role in a secret gay society, he struggles to redeem himself through heroism and self-sacrifice in the king's army on the battlefield.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: What surprised me most about this read was that it is based on fact. I was unaware of the existence of the bastard son of the Sun King. I was more surprised still that there was a gay demimonde at this intolerant, aggressively cishet jerk's court. The last jaw-dropper for me was the way the author treated the subject of "gayness" in a time when that identity had not been invented. While being honest and true to the historical record, Author Bashor allows us twenty-first century snowflakes to feel connected to, and hopeful for, the sodomitical young bastard prince.

History buffs, as much as historical-fiction fans, will find much to enjoy in this evocation of a brutal, glamourous past. The gay themes should be a draw, not a bar, as the light the author sheds on the subject is welcome indeed...even if the life it illuminates is very, very saddening to modern eyes. show less

Marie Antoinette's Darkest Days is a very moving, emotional, and perturbing account of the final days of Marie Antoinette's life and the 'trial' she endured before being sent to the guillotine. I have read countless biographies of this time period as well as studied it in university, including having to write a huge research paper on the causes of the French Revolution, so I am very familiar with this time period and the players involved. Despite knowing the end for this woman, it still show more gives me shivers knowing how people were treated during this time period and how no one, and I mean no one, was safe.

This account focuses on her last seventy-six days and doesn't discuss the frivolity of her life while she was Queen, nor does it discuss the downfall of the royal family except to how it pertains to what happened during this time period, something that I appreciated as it would have gotten bogged down in too many details. It also doesn't really talk too much about what happened to the rest of her family except as to how it affected Marie Antoinette and what she was suffering while waiting for trial, and honestly, knowing what happened to the prince, I was glad to have those details not explained in detail in this book. The author did a great job at focusing on Marie Antoinette, her suffering, the attempts at rescue, the consequences of those attempts, and how she kept her dignity throughout the ordeal.

Even knowing the conditions to which she was kept, I think this was the first time I actually read the full details and it is definitely a distressing account. The cell in which she was kept was below the level of the Seine and it was cold and damp, an environment that further exacerbated the illness from which she was suffering. She was denied a lot of comforts and suffered quite a bit, but considering her previous lavish lifestyle, she bore it with grace and dignity, being kind to everyone around her. The trial was very well explained and I read the accounts from people knowing the end result would be the same despite there being really nothing against her. Those in charge did their best to humiliate her, but she kept her dignity throughout the trial and I can't even imagine what this cost her, both physically and emotionally.

The author has presented a very well-researched account of the last days of this reviled queen and I appreciated the way he tried to show both sides to what happened, never denying Marie Antoinette's guilt in certain matters, only showing how things developed or how they happened. Considering the end in store for her, I can definitely understand the desperate attempts at escape she would have tried or those around her would have tried considering her connections, but she was too well guarded for anything to be successful. I thought the author was quite subtle in showing how a person can become a figurehead for hatred without really having done anything other than be careless, and it can be argued that propaganda and the press were definitely a powerful tool to malign someone and create chaos. I don't think anyone expected the French Revolution and what happened afterwards though, but when you play with fire... And a lot of the heavy hitters who led the French Revolution fell themselves to the guillotine later on.

Verdict
Marie Antoinette's Darkest Days was a very well-researched book and is a great one to add to the canon of literature that already exists about Marie Antoinette. The book focuses on her in her last days and on the people who interacted with her during this time period. If you are looking for a description of her life, this is not it, and I would recommend that you have a knowledge of her life before reading this as the people and events that are mentioned will make more sense as they are not really described as it is expected that you know what is being talked about. It is also a good account as to what happens when decisions are made through fear and hatred as nothing good comes from a society that is led in this manner and France definitely suffered for quite a while after this time period. And honestly, her grief as a mother is the one thing that remains with me after reading this book, the fear for her children once they were taken from her, and I also am truly glad she never knew what happened to her son. show less

This book highlights Marie Antoinette's hairdresser Leonard Autie, who pioneered the queen's ostentatious hairstyles and also played a role in the royal family's escape attempt in 1791. From the perspective of documenting the lavishness, fashions, and servants of the royal court, this book is valuable. I did appreciate the author's efforts to distinguish between Leonard and his siblings and cousins, who shared a name and profession. However, students of the French Revolution may find this show more book lacking and its reliance on personal memoirs is somewhat concerning, especially with some passages that seem to borrow heavily from one source. show less

First of all, Marie Antoinette's Head isn't really about hair.

Second of all, I'm pretty sure Will Bashor just taught me more about the French Revolution in 200-some pages than I learned in all the history classes I've ever taken.

Marie Antoinette's Head stands in stark contrast to most history books. When I think of books on the French Revolution, I think of those huge dusty books from the back room of the library that I had to read in eleventh grade English class to write research papers. I show more remember falling asleep after every couple pages because they were written so dryly and so impersonally that I couldn't bring myself to care about whatever king or queen I was writing about that month.

In Marie Antoinette's Head, Will Bashor not only managed to keep my attention, but he made me forget that I was learning! The book reads more like well-written historical fiction than non-fiction. The characters jumped off the page and came to life. And although I knew what the end result had to be, I felt so connected to Marie Antoinette and Léonard that my heart was pounding and I was devouring the book, hoping that she'd somehow find a way out of the mess she'd gotten herself into. I hoped that Léonard would finally get what he deserved, what he'd been promised... though I knew he wouldn't.

If you're at all interested in history, in Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution, or, yes, even hair... read this book.

Thank you to Will Bashor for the ARC! show less