Tagged: france
Eleanor: Crown Jewel of Aquitaine by Kristiana Gregory
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
June 24th
Such excitement…the horsemen announced travelers, and Count Geoffrey of Anjou arrived an hour later with some of his chevaliers. Petra and I peered from the stairs down to the great hall and saw the visitors. I decided we must put on our loveliest dresses right away. the count is taller and even more striking than Father…Geoffrey the Handsome is our name for him. When he pushed back his hood of chainmail, his hair fell to his shoulders in brown curls. the tunic over his armor was blue with a golden crest. He and Father greeted each other warmly…
The reason for Count Geoffrey’s visit? He has invited Father to go to war. He is just twenty-three years old and needs help invading Normandy.
And without thinking twice, Father said yes! I worry he has made another terrible decision….
I’ve heard quite a bit about Eleanor of Aquitaine, but never actually knew much about her life and the times she lived in. Well, finally Kristiana Gregory has remedied that in a book aimed at kids 8-13. The early years of Eleanor are not quite as exciting as her later years, as we learn in the Historical Note, but it was nice to see things from her perspective.
I personally would have liked a little more description of daily life at the castle, but I can understand why Kristiana Gregory did not include more (it would have turned into a lecture). In Eleanor: Crown Jewel of Aquitaine we don’t really see Eleanor’s love of books and literature, even though she was a huge patron of the arts later in life. Still, I loved seeing the strong relationship between her and her sister that lasted into adulthood. Sadly, the book ended just when things were getting interesting, what with her marriage to Prince Louis and all.
Eleanor: Crown Jewel of Aquitaine is well written and entertaining, but it’s certainly one of the shorter books in the Royal Diaries series. Still, overall it’s a pretty good book and it’s a great one to get kids interested in history.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
*Only available as a used book.
Marie Antoinette: Princess of Versailles by Kathryn Lasky
(Cover picture courtesy of Fantastic Fiction.)
June 13, 1769
It has come at last—the marriage proposal! King Louis XV’s personal envoys arrived this morning. I was called immediately to Mama’s summer house, The Gloriette, where she works on the hottest days. I did not know what I was being called for. Indeed, I thought maybe Luisa had told Mama about our picnic and I was to be reprimanded for hill rolling! But as soon as I set foot in the cool marble receiving room, Mama was out of her chair behind the desk and running toward me. She crushed me to her bosom and whispered, “Antonia, you are to be married! You are to be the Queen of France!” Her cheeks were wet with tears and soon mine were, too!
When my mother told me people used to urinate on the floors of Versailles, I laughed at her and chaulked it up to either hyperbole or myth. Sure, Europeans weren’t the cleanest bunch back then, but to relieve oneself indoors on those magnificent palace floors? That’s crossing the line between truth and fiction, right?
Wrong.
For all of their protocol, manners and customs, the French nobility apparently acted like dogs who have not been properly house trained. Enter Marie Antoinette, an Austrian princess who has been married off to Louis XVI, the Dauphin of France. Can you see why she rebelled against their ridiculous customs? I knew a little bit about the customs of the French court before reading this, but learning the extent of their stupidity was shocking. You learn something new every day, I guess, especially when you read historical fiction like this.
Marie Antoinette: Princess of Versailles is written for ages 10-12 and focuses mainly on Marie Antoinette’s life before her marriage. We get a little bit of her life after marriage, but most of the novel focuses on the time before she became Dauphine. This is not exactly my favourite book in the Royal Diaries series because of its incredibly simplistic style (especially at the beginning), but young readers will love it. They will be able to identify with Marie Antoinette, enjoy a well-written book and learn quite a bit of history without even realizing it. What more can you ask for in historical fiction?
I give this book 3.5/5 stars.