Title: Days of Splendor, Days of Sorrow
SubTitle: A Novel of Marie Antoinette
Author: Juliet Grey
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Imprint: Ballantine Books
Pub Date: May 15, 2012
ISBN: 9780345523884
In the sequel to BECOMING MARIE ANTOINETTE, Juliet Grey takes the reader by the hand and leads them through the young queen’s day to day life. Spanning fifteen years, the novel imagines Marie Antoinette’s life, hopes and dreams as well as the enormous challenges she faces both as a woman and a queen. Grey succeeds in illuminating the humanity of this much maligned, misunderstood and tragic queen. She makes her Marie Antoinette, a thoughtful, considering, generous woman eager to make her mark upon the world, the court and history. While her portrayal is much better than that of the vain, frivolous queen the world knows, Grey does not shy away from Marie Antoinette’s mistakes either. This is no saint, just a woman in a political and romantic minefield trying to do the best she can.
The story is an absorbing and compelling one with rich details of Versailles, Le Petit Trianon and the people in Marie Antoinette’s life. Much attention is paid to the correspondence with her rather overbearing mother and the young queen’s reactions to the letters. One can feel Marie Antoinette’s frustration as she tries to be an independent woman and managing to piss off just about everyone near and far because of it.
I found DAYS OF SPLENDOR, DAYS OF SORROW to be a wonderful story. Grey’s characterization of Marie Antoinette is complex, making her such a multi-layered and interesting woman. There is the frustrated young girl who tries to hide from jokes about her marriage and her husband’s lack of ardor by gambling and shopping; the eager young queen who is determined to make her mark on both the palace and Petit Trianon; the young wife and mother who adores her children and is marked by the sorrow of losing children by miscarriage and illness; the doting wife and daughter, struggling against the suffocating palace life.
It’s just fascinating.
Publisher’s blurb:
A captivating novel of rich spectacle and royal scandal, Days of Splendor, Days of Sorrow spans fifteen years in the fateful reign of Marie Antoinette, France’s most legendary and notorious queen.
Paris, 1774. At the tender age of eighteen,Marie Antoinette ascends to the French throne alongside her husband, Louis XVI.But behind the extravagance of the young queen’s elaborate silk gowns and dizzyingly high coiffures, she harbors deeper fears for her future and that of the Bourbon dynasty.
From the early growing pains of marriage to the joy of conceiving a child, from her passion for Swedish military attaché Axel von Fersen to the devastating Affair of the Diamond Necklace, Marie Antoinette tries to rise above the gossip and rivalries that encircle her. But as revolution blossoms in America, a much larger threat looms beyond the gilded gates of Versailles-one that could sweep away the French monarchy forever.
About the author:
Juliet Grey is the author of Becoming Marie Antoinette. She has extensively researched European royalty and is a particular devotee of Marie Antoinette, as well as a classically trained professional actress with numerous portrayals of virgins, vixens, and villainesses to her credit. She and her husband divide their time between New York City and southern Vermont.
Disclosure: A free copy of this book was furnished by the publisher for review via NetGalley, but providing a copy did not guarantee a review. This information is provided per the regulations of the Federal Trade Commission.
