Marie Antoinette The Last Queen of France

by Lever, Evelyne; Temerson, Catherine

• ISBN13: 9780312283339
• ISBN10: 0312283334
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-09-24
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Summary

Drawing on diaries, letters, court records, and memoirs, Evelyn Lever paints vivid portraits of Marie Antoinette, her inner circle, and the lavish court life at Versailles. Married off for political reasons at the age of fourteen, Marie Antoinette was naive, impetuous, and unprepared for the role history cast her in. Evelyn Lever weaves the tragic tale of the Queens life, from her birth in Vienna in 1755 through her trial for high treason, and her final beheading. The result is an unforgettable tapestry of life in eighteenth-century France.

Author Biography

Evelyne Lever is a leading French historian. Marie Antoinette is her first book to be published in the United States. She lives in Paris with her husband, Maurice Lever, the author of Sade.

Table of Contents

Daughter of Maria Theresa	3	(11)
Great Expectations	11	(9)
A Royal Marriage	20	(7)
The Versailles Court	27	(9)
Madame la Dauphine	36	(10)
End of a Reign, End of an Era	46	(8)
A Happy Accession	54	(7)
``Little Twenty-Year-Old Queen''	61	(8)
The Coronation	69	(8)
The Queen's Circle	77	(10)
Venus and Vulcan	87	(8)
The Queen's Intrigues	95	(9)
The Brother's Visit	104	(9)
Motherhood	113	(9)
Fersen	122	(7)
Queen of Trianon	129	(9)
Birth of a Dauphin	138	(9)
Fersen's Return	147	(8)
Last Illusions	155	(8)
Scandal in the Air	163	(10)
The Diamond Necklace Affair	173	(10)
``Madame Deficit''	183	(8)
``My Fate Is to Bring Bad Luck''	191	(9)
``Do You Know a Woman More to Be Pitied Than Me?''	200	(8)
The Fall of the Bastille	208	(8)
The Last Summer at Versailles	216	(7)
The Tragedy of October 1789	223	(10)
The Tuileries	233	(9)
Escape Plans	242	(8)
The Varennes Drama	250	(10)
The Impasse	260	(9)
The Last Show of Strength	269	(8)
The Fall of the Monarchy	277	(8)
The Death of the King	285	(7)
The Conciergerie	292	(7)
Trial and Death of the Queen	299	(7)
Epilogue: What Became of Them?	306	(7)
Abbreviations	313	(2)
Notes	315	(16)
Bibliography	331	(14)
Index	345