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The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette: A Novel
The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette: A Novel
The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette: A Novel
Audiobook (abridged)5 hours

The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette: A Novel

Written by Carolly Erickson

Narrated by Maggi-Meg Reed

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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About this audiobook

For more than two centuries Marie Antoinette has been vilified as the heartless, frivolous queen who spent lavishly while her people starved. Now, in the tradition of The Birth of Venus and The Other Boleyn Girl, this moving novel tells her side of the story.

Imagine that, on the night before she is to die under the blade of the guillotine, Marie Antoinette leaves behind in her prison cell a diary telling the story of her life—from her privileged childhood as Austrian Archduchess to her years as glamorous mistress of Versailles to the heartbreak of imprisonment and humiliation during the French Revolution. Carolly Erickson takes us deep into the psyche of France's doomed queen: her love affair with handsome Swedish diplomat Count Axel Fersen, who risked his life to save her on the terrifying night the Parisian mob broke into her palace bedroom intent on murdering her and her family; her harrowing flight from France in disguise, her recapture and the grim months of harsh captivity; her agony when her beloved husband was guillotined and her beloved son was torn from her arms, never to be seen again.

Erickson brilliantly captures the queen's voice, her hopes, her dreads, her suffering. We follow, mesmerized, as she reveals every detail of her remarkable, eventful life, from her teenage years when she began keeping a diary to her final days when she awaited her own bloody appointment with the guillotine.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateSep 1, 2005
ISBN9781593978303
Author

Carolly Erickson

Distinguished historian Carolly Erickson is the author of Rival to the Queen, The Memoirs of Mary Queen of Scots, The First Elizabeth, The Hidden Life of Josephine, The Last Wife of Henry VIII, and many other prize-winning works of fiction and nonfiction. Her novel The Tsarina’s Daughter won the Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Historical Fiction. She lives in Hawaii.

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Reviews for The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette

Rating: 3.28 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

25 ratings17 reviews

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Having virtually no prior knowledge of the life of Marie Antoinette, I cannot judge this book on its historical accuracy. Being a historical fiction novel (written in diary form), I'm sure the author has to take liberties here & there, but I trust that the "facts" are based on historical documents. Having said that, I enjoyed this book simply because it educated me on a topic I knew almost nothing about. However, my overall feeling for the book was sort of "meh". I've certainly read better, but I've probably read worse also.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I couldn't finish The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette by Carolly Erickson. I pushed past 50 pages then found myself skimming and not feeling I was missing anything. I've read Ms. Erickson's non-fiction, so I was disappointed in this, her first novel. I decided to pick up her non-fiction biography of Marie Antoinette instead. It reads like a novel, is more factual, adds depth to the character, and I'm enjoying it much, much more.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I loved this book and, not surprisingly, it was far better than the TV movie that was based upon it. Marie's voice was clear, emotional, strong and vibrant. You could see her child-like qualities, how she evolved and grew with age and experience and understand her perspective on the times. Too bad her husband, the King, was such a dolt and didn't take her warnings and council seriously or she might of lived to see her grandchildren.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I gave the book 3 stars because it seemed a bit fluffy for my taste and it also seemed like the author took a bit too much liberty with the facts. I did like learning more about Marie Antoinette and it has motivated me to learn more about her.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This was very meh and a disappointment considering her other book. I didn’t know much about Marie Antoinette to start with, and this book did not teach me anything or make me want to learn more. And I think the diary format was a mistake -- it stretches belief. Why would Marie have continued to write down all that sensitive information, even after her diary was repeatedly discovered and talked about to her detriment, and how would she have hidden the thing from the revolutionaries after she was imprisoned?
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    In the book we find Marie Antoinette speaking in the first person, as she recorded events in her diary. I found the entries flat and boring. The pace of the book was not quick enough. During the book, I just wanted it to end.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    24/06/07-25/06/07Carolly Erickson has, as she states, created an ‘historical entertainment’ … ‘tempered by decades of research into the late eighteenth century, a rich slice of historical turf which I have spent so many years exploring, blade by blade’.Her experience as a writer and historian are brilliantly brought together in this novel about the tragic queen of France. Peopled by a rich tapestry of historical characters Marie-Antoinette tells her own story in simple diary form from the perspective of the 13 year-old Austrian Archduchess living in the midst of her beloved family in 1769 to her imprisonment in the Conciergerie in Paris a short twenty-four years later.Marie-Antoinette has more often than not been portrayed as an exquisite butterfly flitting through a magical court far divorced from the real world - her ‘then let them eat cake’ when told of the starving Parisians unable to afford the escalating cost of bread has so oft been cited as to have become a standard quote to describe the mentality of folks detached from reality. But here Marie-Antoinette is shown in her true colours – a loyal, strong, and caring wife, parent and lover and a compassionate queen to her adopted country.In a France fast becoming bankrupt the court continues its glittering social round with the royal family at its centre and Marie-Antoinette as the hated and vilified Austrian at the hub. We share the heartbreak of her naïve early years in France as her hopes for an heir are dashed again and again; we identify with the trauma of at last giving birth – to a girl – and empathise with her efforts to find a cure for her tiny, sick boy as she watches him slowly die. Over the years the necessity of supporting Louis, her lumbering, inept and vacillating husband, see her developing into a gutsy and resourceful woman. Cast from the sumptuous luxury of court life into the terror of revolutionary France she continues as the rock on which her suffering family depend.I will not spoil the end of the story for those unfamiliar with Marie-Antoinette’s final days but just advise you not to read the back pages or cover of the paperback. For those who know I promise that you will not be able to put down this exceptional book until the final page is turned.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Non-fiction author Carolly Erickson jumps into the fiction market with The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette, a novel about the infamous queen who famously told the French populace to "eat cake" told her in own voice.At a young age Marie Antoinette, or, at the time, Antonia, was sent away from her mother Maria-Therease's Hapsburg court in Austria to marry the French Dauphin, Louis, as part of a treaty between the two countries. Antonia (now dubbed Marie Antoinette) is forcefully transformed into a Frenchwoman, weds Louis and takes her place at court. Though Marie has trouble with French politics and her husband, nothing can prepare her for the horrors of the Revolution. The only solace she can find lies in the pages of her secret diary.Though it has its flaws, Erickson's first fiction offering is a quick, easy read that paints a thorough picture of Marie Antoinette and Louis filled with emotion and a sense of the unexpected. Rather than portraying the ill-fated queen as a lavish spender, deviant or bohemian, Erickson instead paints the queen as woman who loves her family and her country and simply tries to do what's best for them. Though Erickson's Marie Antoinette does deal somewhat with the above issues, it's not explored nearly as much as in other works of fiction (or even non-fiction) on the French queen. I, honestly, was a little surprised and slightly disappointed by this. Even though I could tell that Erickson was trying to show Marie Antoinette as a more human character, I was craving something juicier and more interesting.There is also a lack of detail about the period, which bugged me just a little. Though I'm guessing this comes from Erickson's history as a non-fiction writer, she has a little more to learn about setting the scene and giving enough description for the reader to see what's going on. Erickson's pacing is also a little off, especially near the end where it feels like Marie Antoinette's imprisonment seems to drag on forever.Though a first good effort, not the best, but I can definitely see Erickson going places in future novels.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This is my first Marie Antoinette novel. While it was a decent portrayal of Marie Antoinette, it's lacking in the whole diary aspect. I felt like I was more reading a catalog of events rather than someone's diary. Yes, she mentions she is secretly in love with someone...and apparently Erickson believes this constitutes as a diary entry. Well sorry, it doesn't. There was no "feeling" no "emotions." I would have really enjoyed this book if it had more of a diary aspect. Does she not know the kinds of things grown-up women put in their diaries? Certainly not their latest crushes and an entry that begins with "I did this day, and then we saw my favorite aunt. It was fun but I was worried about Louis because he did not like to eat chicken, and this is what my aunt is cooking...blah blah." I kept looking to see how many pages I had left.Might as well have called it the random journal of Marie Antoinette.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    biographical fiction that recounts the life of Marie Antionette from age 12 till her death. I am usually indifferent to historical fiction but this book has sparked an interest for me. Cant wait to read some of the authors other works
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I know it's historical fiction, but inaccuracies in this book baffled me so much. As a history buff who has an interest in Marie Antoinette, it was almost insulting how wrong, wrong, wrong a lot of things were. I wish I could get back the time I wasted reading this.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Great book! Carolly is a writer of historical non fiction who's now writing fiction based on her research. I'm a big fan of writers researching and knowing what they're writing about, so I'm happy to add her to my list of authors to read!The "diary" adds depth to the tales about Marie Antionette and really humanizes her. Not that she's a saint, but it shows her as being aware of the problems in France but naive as to how to do anything about it. The little village she has built is both an extravagance and at the same time she's trying to help people. Great book, I really recommend it!
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    When I picked up this book at my used bookstore, I looked skeptically at the cover. It looked to me like another fluffy, shallow book about a princess or queen, who is portrayed in a fancy dress with her head cut out of the frame (so inventive). However, I reminded myself that you cannot judge books by their covers, and bought it anyways. Sadly, my suspicions were completely accurate.This is the fictional diary of Marie Antoinette, beginning just a little before she is engaged to the dauphin Louis XVI of France. Marie continues writing in the journal, about her marriage to a dry, piteous boy who she develops a friendship with, her affair with a dashing count, the birth of her children, and her eventual betrayal and imprisonment as the Revolution washes over France.I love the French Revolution, but this book captured almost none of it. Rather, we see the excessively decadent lifestyles of Marie and the ladies of her court that led to, or at least helped speed up, the ruin of France's finances and economy. By the time the book starts mentioning the revolutionaries, we still know very little about them. If I had known nothing of history and this book was my first introduction to anything French Revolution, I would have assumed that a mob of citizens simply gathered together to execute Marie Antoinette, and that was all there was to it.Normally, I dislike the diary format. Maybe it is just because there were SO many of them when I was in middle school (Dear America, My America, Dear Canada, Royal Diaries, and many many more), but I almost always find them childish. And this one was no exception. If Erickson had written this book without the diary style, I think it would have been just slightly better - half a star better, maybe?"The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette" is implausible, weak, contrived, and simply uninteresting. Look all you want for a strong, solid portrayal of the infamous queen that takes you "deep into the psyche of France's doomed queen," as the back cover promises, but expect to be disappointed. In fact, 'deep' is the precise opposite word I would use to describe this book.Every character was sketchy and badly written, predictable, and lifeless. Marie was painted as being spoiled and vain in the beginning, and senselessly ignorant (but in a good way!) in the end. The author's method of illustrating her heroine's mistake of being so selfish and lavish was extremely obvious.Marie would write in her diary "Today I ordered everyone to wear feathers, and a few hours later, the shops were all sold out. We had to hide the palace birds to protect them..."Or "I have no idea what all of our palace balls cost, but I'm sure it's a lot!"These are not actual quotes, as I didn't take note of them while reading, but I am writing them from memory.The author would slip in these passing side notes as if she was counting pages and had made a note to herself saying: "Write something about Marie's spending every 5 pages." It seemed robotic and completely lacking in genuineness. Louis, Marie's odd and anti-social husband, was the only character that worked, in a very small way. He is reclusive, and does not appear in the story all that much. This was the only reason he was half-way - no, quarter-way - believable. The lack of getting to know him fit his character, luckily for the author.The character of Amelie, Marie's traitorous chambermaid, was laughable. Literally. I couldn't decide between groaning or laughing at the way Erickson wrote her. I am extremely surprised that none of the other reviews I have read even mention her. It was just ghastly. She was really that bad.For most of the book, Amelie is just like a Mean Girl in high school. Marie hates her and is jealous of her, but is also afraid of her and finds herself longing for Amelie's approval. Must all shallow books have a snotty Mean Girl and return to high school? Well, I suppose that that is this book's level.But anyways, by the end of the book, Amelie has joined the revolutionaries and is guarding Marie in her prison cell.She jabs clumsily written insults at Marie, always 100% the bad guy. When her husband dies, she "smiles and doesn't care." She also seems to be some high ranking person, because everyone follows her orders, though in reality a young woman would never have had the authority to do all the things she does.Amelie will be joining my list of 'Worst Villains of All Time.'We never see any character. Even a corny 'I Am Doing These Evil Things Because My Mommy Hit Me' speech toward the end would have made it just a bit better.Marie's romantic interests, first in her servant Eric and later in Axel, were tedious to say the least. There was a lot of eye rolling from me. In the beginning, I thought that the author was simply writing it this way to illustrate how immature Marie was, but by the time we reach the end, where Erickson is very obviously portraying Marie as grown up, strong, etc etc, she is still the same silly girl. The whole thing with Axel confused me. I was very sure that Erickson was setting him up to the be a bad guy later. He makes careless remarks often, most notably when he laughs about a group of peasants fighting to the death over a few crumbs, and then says "You should see the really poor ones."However, maybe the author forgot she had this idea. Or maybe she really does think that peasants killing each other over bread crumbs isn't really that bad.Whatever the reason, Axel is the hero of the story.There was also some pointless sidetracking about Axel's former mistress finding Marie, telling her that if she loves him, she will break up with him, blah blah blah, Marie doesn't do it, and there are no repercussions. It was funny how Marie and her court were 'The Good Guys' and the revolutionaries were all 'The Bad Guys.' Crisp black and white lines were drawn, which is always unrealistic, inaccurate, and insensitive. With this ridiculous attempt at "history," Erickson is an author I hope to never come across again.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book is an invented journal written by Marie Antoinette, the queen of France who was sent to the guillotine during the French Revolution in 1793. The book starts out with her childhood as Austrian Archduchess Maria Antonia -- her royal family, the death of her sister and her ultimate betrothal to Louis XVI. Once Marie Antoinette arrives in France and is crowned queen, you see through her eyes the daily bombardment of rules, luxury and excess. Louis is simple, unwilling to make decisions, and weak. She becomes fond of Louis, becoming his friend and confidant throughout their marriage. Marie Antoinette also an affair and falls in love with Swedish nobleman Axel Fersen.Various events and happenings, fictional and real, are woven together to give a glimpse at what Marie Antoinette's life could have been like. She had four children, only two survived. She was unilaterally hated by the French people for her excess and lavish lifestyle. She was made a scapegoat for a way of life, and was ultimately executed for being who she was.The book was interesting, well paced and generally on track. Too many outlandish tales could have lead this book astray, but Carolly Erickson managed to keep the tall tales to a minimum. The book is definitely sympathetic to Marie Antoinette. She was not the villain she was made out to be by the peasantry of France. She was a victim of circumstance – she was condemned because she was born to royalty. She was neither a saint nor evil.I enjoyed this book. It made me want to learn more about her as a person, though the fictionalized areas of the book were frustrating at times.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    What if Marie Antoinette left a hidden diary in her cell as she left for her date with the guillotine? A diary that detailed her thoughts and feelings for 20 odd years of her life, from a teenager in Austria to the new dauphine (and later queen) of France to Citizeness Capet, despised by a France in revolution. I was not impressed with this book, which makes me sad because I did like the author's biography of Elizabeth I. Anyone wanting a novelization of Marie Antoinette's life would be better served by reading Juliet Grey's Becoming Marie Antoinette. Erickson calls her book "historical entertainment" not a historical novel, which I guess gives her free rein to make stuff up. I did not like the diary format at all. Months and sometimes years would go by between entries. The book is supposed to span Marie Antoinette's life from the time she is a teenager to right before her execution. The tone never changes and the character doesn't seem to grow at all over the course of the book. Some important and historical events that happened to Marie Antoinette are completely left out. The book was entertaining though and a quick and easy read, so Erickson did accomplish that much. Not the best novelization of Marie Antoinette's life.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    The Lifetime TV movie version of Marie Antoinette. Awful.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I must confess I really knew very little about Marie Antoinette before reading this, so cannot verify the historical accuracy, though that is addressed in the author's note. This historical novel paints her as a tragic, strong and well-intentioned but often maligned woman, saddled with an indecisive king. Written as a series of diary entries from the time when she is a young girl at home in Austria until her last moments before execution. The story runs the range from frivolous pursuits to bloody massacres, so read be prepared! I'm definitely interested in reading more French history.