Marie Antoinette

This is the only book you need to read on Marie Antoinette, one of the most iconic and divisive characters in history.’

‘Drama, betrayal, religion and sex, it’s all here’ Guardian
‘Beautifully paced, impeccably written’ Independent
‘Fraser is at her best here, lucid, authoritative and compassionate’ Sunday Times

Marie Antoinette’s dramatic life-story continues to arouse fascination and controversy.

To many people, she is still ‘la reine méchante’, whose extravagance and frivolity helped to bring down the French monarchy; her indifference to popular suffering epitomised by the (apocryphal) words: ‘let them eat cake’. Others are equally passionate in her defence: to them, she is a victim of misogyny.

In this gripping biography, Antonia Fraser examines her influence over the king, Louis XVI, the accusations and sexual slurs made against her, her patronage of the arts which enhanced French cultural life, her imprisonment, the death threats made against her, rumours of lesbian affairs, her trial (during which her young son was forced to testify to sexual abuse by his mother) and her eventual execution by guillotine in 1793.

‘Superbly researched . . . the definitive work on the ill-fated queen’ Catholic Herald

‘A hugely well-researched work . . . Marie Antoinette is a heroic and tragic exercise in identification’ Daily Telegraph

‘Fraser sets out to rescue Marie Antoinette from the shadow of the guillotine, and she does this with resounding success’ Ruth Scurr, The Times

‘Antonia Fraser writes beautifully, with impressively shrewd judgement’ Desmond Seward, Daily Mail

Readers are loving this:

‘Brilliant . . . I was racing to get to the end of the tragic story’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Full of interesting anecdotes and with a sympathy that never strays over to bias, Antonia Fraser’s account of Marie Antoinette’s life is just brilliant’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘The level of detail in this book is quite astonishing but in no way does it make it boring’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘All the cliches about not being able to put a book down apply here’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐