The Lacemaker and the Princess - Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

I was just saying to class yesterday what I don't know what it is with me and Marie Antoinette, I mean the woman was completely out of line and out of touch, but I am fascinated with her. In part I am clearly enamored by all things princess, we know that, and no one was more princess-y than MA for sure. But I think perhaps it's also that I just keep hoping I'll find some redemption for her. This book didn't really do that, but I did like it.

This book was really focused more on her daughter, the young princess Therese, than on Marie Antoinette. And like mother, like daughter, she, too, was pretty out of touch. I don't blame the daughter, really, though. Most kids believe what their parents tell them - why wouldn't they? And clearly this young princess' parents were telling her there was nothing to worry about.

Isabelle and Ernestine are local girls who've been taken under the wing of the princess as "Friends." But really, they're more like pets. They do get good food and nice clothes to wear while they're at the castle, and all the privileges of royalty, but they're definitely not. All in all, it's a strange situation, and Isabelle has a difficult time discerning between what is true about the royal family and what she perceives to be true. In the end, she's pretty clear, but she sort of finds out the hard way.

I enjoyed this book, but it was a bit of a depressing piece of historical fiction in that way that reality sometimes is depressing.

Available at the WOMS library.