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Louis XIV to French Revolution - suggestions?

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Miss Moppet
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Louis XIV to French Revolution - suggestions?

Post by Miss Moppet » Wed February 10th, 2010, 4:55 pm

For the past few years I haven't been reading 17th and 18th century French historicals because I was writing about that time and didn't want to be influenced. I'm not writing about it at the moment though and would like to catch up on what I've missed! Below are some of books I'm planning on reading but other suggestions, including French language novels, are very welcome. (I've already read the ones in bold).

Louis XIV:
Dumas, Louise de La Valliere
Catherine Decours, Aimee du Roi
Fernande Gontier, Histoire de la comtesse d'Aulnoy
Sandra Gulland, Mistress of the Sun
Jean Diwo, La fontaniere du roy
Francoise Chandernagor, L'allee du roi

Louis XV/Madame de Pompadour
Duncan Sprott, Our Lady of the Potatoes
Jean Plaidy, Louis the Well-Beloved
Jean Plaidy, The Road to Compiegne

Fanny Deschamps, La bougainvillee

Louis XVI/Marie Antoinette
Dumas, Le collier de la reine
Sena Jeter Naslund, Abundance
Fanny Deschamps, Louison ou l'heure exquise
Victoria Holt, The Queen's Confession
Jean Plaidy, Flaunting, Extravagant Queen


French Revolution
Baroness Orzcy, The Scarlet Pimpernel
Catherine Delors, Mistress of the Revolution
Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety

Napoleon
Sandra Gulland, Josephine trilogy
Annemarie Selinko, Desiree
Norah Lofts, A Rose for Virtue

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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Wed February 10th, 2010, 5:04 pm

I assume you're familiar with Dumas' six books on the Revolution?

Joseph Balsamo
Memoirs of a Physician
The Queen's Necklace
Taking the Bastile
The Countess de Charny
Knights of the Maison Rougue (sp?)

From what I've been told Knights was written first and then was commissioned to write the other five as a series. Interesting is that the characters in the first five are not present in the last (Royalty being the exception of course).

Joseph Balsamo's character was quite a lot of fun and there really was someone by that name and quite mysterious. I've posted reviews of these on Amazon and at Goodreads if you're interested in more detail.
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Miss Moppet
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Post by Miss Moppet » Wed February 10th, 2010, 5:24 pm

[quote=""Misfit""]I assume you're familiar with Dumas' six books on the Revolution?

Joseph Balsamo
Memoirs of a Physician
The Queen's Necklace
Taking the Bastile
The Countess de Charny
Knights of the Maison Rougue (sp?)

From what I've been told Knights was written first and then was commissioned to write the other five as a series. Interesting is that the characters in the first five are not present in the last (Royalty being the exception of course).

Joseph Balsamo's character was quite a lot of fun and there really was someone by that name and quite mysterious. I've posted reviews of these on Amazon and at Goodreads if you're interested in more detail.[/quote]

Oh yes, Cagliostro! I didn't realise this was a series, thank you. I'll see if I can get hold of the first one.

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Post by boswellbaxter » Wed February 10th, 2010, 6:07 pm

There's Farewell, My Queen by Chantal Thomas, told by Marie Antoinette's reader. Very literary, too much so for me.
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Post by Miss Moppet » Wed February 10th, 2010, 6:12 pm

[quote=""boswellbaxter""]There's Farewell, My Queen by Chantal Thomas, told by Marie Antoinette's reader. Very literary, too much so for me.[/quote]

I liked her non-fiction on MA, The Wicked Queen. I'll add it to the list!

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Post by SonjaMarie » Wed February 10th, 2010, 7:02 pm

[quote=""boswellbaxter""]There's Farewell, My Queen by Chantal Thomas, told by Marie Antoinette's reader. Very literary, too much so for me.[/quote]

Yea, I couldn't get into that one either it was a DNF.

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Post by annis » Wed February 10th, 2010, 7:25 pm

For Napoleon, Max Gallo's biographical series:
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/g/max-gallo

and

Simon Scarrow's "Revolution" series about Napoleon and Wellington
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/simon-scarrow/

And on a more frivolous note, Juliette Benzoni's "Marianne"novels

I'm sure I saw mention somewhere (Tanzanite?) of a forthcoming novel about Napoleon's rather scandalous sister, Pauline, as well.
Last edited by annis on Wed February 10th, 2010, 7:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by Misfit » Wed February 10th, 2010, 7:37 pm

Miss M, you are lucky you can read Dumas in French - no worries about bad translations and there are some very bad ones out there (boy was The Queen's Necklace ever mangled).

There's also D du M's The Glass Blowers. About her forebears (am I spelling that right?) in France and the focus is on the countryside and not the royalty. You see how the family came to England along with the origins of the Du Maurier name.
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Post by annis » Wed February 10th, 2010, 7:58 pm

Fanny Deschamp's novel set in the Louis XV period is available in English translation as "The King's Garden" (I have a copy)

A novel featuring Louis XIV"s garden which I also enjoyed (in English translation :) ) is "Gardener to the King", by Frédéric Richaud.

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Ludmilla
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Post by Ludmilla » Wed February 10th, 2010, 7:59 pm

Daphne du Maurier's The Glassblowers is good (a wonderful perspective on the French Revolution outside of Paris, what it meant to ordinary citizens and the merchant class, e.g.). I also liked Sabatini's The Marquis of Carabas set during the 1790s (historical figure Comte de Puisaye has an important, secondary role in this).

Heyer's An Infamous Army is worth reading for the Battle of Waterloo. I didn't care for the romance, but the other parts made it worth it.

Two older books I have in the TBR, but not read:
The Ivory Mischief by Arthur Meeker (about two aristocratic sisters in 17thC France)
Proud Destiny by Lion Feuchtwanger (about French court of Louis XVI -- I became curious about this one after reading about activities of Beaumarchais and Vergennes before the Revolution, but not sure what kind of treatment they get in this.)

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