Marie Antoinette's Darkest Days by Will Bashor

“Hardman utilises years of researching the fall of the French monarchy, weaving in accounts by those who knew, loved or loathed Marie Antoinette, to offer a broadly convincing portrait of a woman who ‘inspired loyalty in strangers who were willing to risk their lives for her, even when the chances of success were slight.' It is a thought-provoking portrait of a brave, well-intentioned, if often misguided queen.”-Gareth Russell, The Times (London) a wonderfully gripping biography.”-Allan Massie, Wall Street Journal For the first time, Hardman demonstrates exactly what influence Marie-Antoinette had and when and how she exerted it. Drawing on new sources, he describes how, from the outset, Marie-Antoinette refused to prioritize the aggressive foreign policy of her mother, Maria-Theresa, bravely took over the helm from Louis XVI after the collapse of his morale, and, when revolution broke out, listened to the Third Estate and worked closely with repentant radicals to give the constitutional monarchy a fighting chance. Hardman shows how Marie-Antoinette played a significant but misunderstood role in the crisis of the monarchy. In this new account, John Hardman redresses the balance and sheds fresh light on Marie-Antoinette’s story. Who was the real Marie-Antoinette? She was mistrusted and reviled in her own time, and today she is portrayed as a lightweight incapable of understanding the events that engulfed her. Named a Book of the Year (2020) by The Spectator A wonderfully gripping biography.”-Allan Massie, Wall Street Journal neither martyr nor voluptuary but rather a serious participant in politics.”-Lynn Hunt, New York Review of Books “Presents as much more than a symbol whose meaning is in the eye of her beholder.

A new look which fundamentally overturns our understanding of this famously 'out of touch' queen

Marie Antoinette's Darkest Days by Will Bashor