Book Review -- The Enemies of Versailles

I read the first two books by Sally Christie in the Mistresses of Versailles series and enjoyed them, but my favorite might be this final book The Enemies of Versailles. The books stand alone, but it's intriguing to read them in order to see how King Louis XV evolved from a religious, devoted husband to a man who resisted the efforts of his family to force him back to the church as his guilt ate away at him.

But the books are not told through the viewpoint of the king, instead, for this final book, we see the world of Versailles through one of his daughters, Adelaide, and his last mistress Jeanne du Barry. Perhaps there were never two women more different. Adelaide was born as a princess of France. She avoided marrying so she could stay in the luxury of Versailles, and although she tried to do good works, she always followed etiquette and thought the poor should stay in their place. She never had any sympathy for the plight of those outside the chateau.
Jeanne, however, was born into a poor family and went to school at a convent. Her beauty propelled her into the wealth of Versailles and the arms of the King, but she always had a kind heart, even for those who hated her.

This book is full of rich details that help the readers feel as if they are at Versailles, sharing the gossip and the intrigue, but also the emotions of the historical characters. Good historical fiction is a great way to get a grasp on the times the characters lived through, and this one does that. It has stuck with me through the end when (spoiler alert/not really) the French Revolution sees the next king Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette beheaded.
The actions of the king and all of the people in Versailles feel so real as I finished the book last week and saw the health care plan and the budget put out by  the Congress and President of the United States. It makes me realize that the people in power, again, have no idea what middle class and working people are going through.
This book is a fast read and whimsical escape into the past, at least until the end when the reality of repeating history might jar the reader.
I highly recommend it.
If you live in the U.S. or Canada, you can win a copy of The Enemies of Versailles by leaving a comment on my blog and letting me know you'd like a copy.

Purchase Links

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

Connect with Sally

Website | Goodreads

France Book Tours -- The Rivals of Versailles Book Review & Giveaway

I read Sally Christie's first novel in this series, The Sisters of Versailles, and it gave me a ring-side seat into life at Versailles under King Louis XV. This second book though, The Rivals of Versailles, plunged me straight into the intrigue of the King's most famous mistress, Madame Pompadour.
I really enjoyed this book and had trouble setting it aside for mundane things like work and cooking dinner for my family.
Maybe it helps that I didn't know the book was about Madame Pompadour. At the beginning, she was just Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, a middle-class girl at a fair when a fortune-teller predicted that she would some day be the mistress of the king. After that, her entire childhood was spent preparing her for that role.
Like any good historical fiction, the details are exquisite and the reader is swept into the halls of Versailles where women jockey for the king's favor and men use the women like pawns on a chess board to gain the ear of the king.
Jeanne must even resist the king's advances to make sure she can enter Versailles as his mistress rather than just another girl in the string of lovers pleasing the king. And the entire court is appalled that a non-royal woman becomes so powerful.
I won't give away the rest of the story, which some of you  might know if you've studied history, but I guarantee that you haven't seen it from this light before.

Here's a snippet of their first encounter:

I wait. And wait. Clouds threaten and an insistent breeze heralds a coming storm. It must not rain. It must not. Please, God. My nerves are frayed as the wind whips the ribbons on my hat. Please, no rain.
Then the sound of hooves to mimic the pounding of my heart. Binet canters out of the forest, followed by another man. That it is the king I have no doubt: his face is at once both wonderful and familiar.
...
"Sire, might I introduce you? The Comtesse d'Etoilles."
"Madame d'Etiolles," says the king, bringing his horse up alongside my chaise. "So, Binet, this is the doe you thought had come this way." His voice is low and husky, the tone amused. "Delightful."
"Indeed, Sire, this is the lady that is enchanting Paris, as well as these forests."
"And I can see why. A singular beauty," murmurs the king, looking at me with intense dark eyes. I am staring at him with an openmouthed gape. The face I gazed upon constantly...he is even more handsome than his portrait."  

 I enjoyed this novel even more than the first and will give it five stars on Amazon and Goodreads.

Sally Christie

on Tour April 5-14 with

The Rivals of Versailles

(historical fiction) Release date: April 5, 2016 at Atria Books/Simon & Schuster 448 pages ISBN: 978-1501102998 Website | Goodreads  

SYNOPSIS

In this scandalous follow-up to Sally Christie’s clever and absorbing debut, we meet none other than the Marquise de Pompadour, one of the greatest beauties of her generation and the first bourgeois mistress ever to grace the hallowed halls of Versailles. The year is 1745. Marie-Anne, the youngest of the infamous Nesle sisters and King Louis XV’s most beloved mistress, is gone, making room for the next Royal Favorite. Enter Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, a stunningly beautiful girl from the middle classes. Fifteen years prior, a fortune teller had mapped out young Jeanne’s destiny: she would become the lover of a king and the most powerful woman in the land. Eventually connections, luck, and a little scheming pave her way to Versailles and into the King’s arms. All too soon, conniving politicians and hopeful beauties seek to replace the bourgeois interloper with a more suitable mistress. As Jeanne, now the Marquise de Pompadour, takes on her many rivals—including a lustful lady-in-waiting; a precocious fourteen-year-old prostitute, and even a cousin of the notorious Nesle sisters—she helps the king give himself over to a life of luxury and depravity. Around them, war rages, discontent grows, and France inches ever closer to the Revolution. Enigmatic beauty, social climber, actress, trendsetter, patron of the arts, spendthrift, whoremonger, friend, lover, foe. History books may say many things about the famous Marquise de Pompadour, but one thing is clear: for almost twenty years, she ruled France and the King’s heart.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sally Christie is the author of The Sisters of Versailles. She was born in England and grew up around the world, attending eight schools in three different languages. She spent most of her career working in international development and currently lives in Toronto. Learn more about the sisters and the mistresses in the Versailles trilogy on her website Become a fan to hear about her next novels! Visit her Facebook Page Check her Pinterest page

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Enter here

Visit each blogger on the tour: tweeting about the giveaway everyday of the Tour will give you 5 extra entries each time! [just follow the directions on the entry-form] Global giveaway open to US residents only: 5 participants will each win a print copy of this book.

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Tuesday Intros -- The Rivals of Versailles

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.

I'm reviewing The Rivals of Versailles by Sally Christie for FranceBookTours in April, just a few days after the book debuts on April 6. I previously reviewed The Sisters of Versailles, about five sisters who all became the mistress of King Louis XV. Here's my review for that one.
I'm only about a third of the way into this second book of the trilogy, but this one is even more gripping. Here's the intro:

The gypsy's hair is as red as blood, I think in astonishment. She catches me staring and starts, rabbit-like, as though she recognizes me. But she does not, and I certainly don't know anyone quite so dirty.
"I please you not to touch me," I say as she comes toward me, but still there is something familiar abut her. My mother bustles over, carrying a pastry in the shape of a  pig, and pulls me back from the grimy woman.
"Just look at those perfect eyes," says the woman. She takes my hand, a coarse brown mitt over my own, and I smell a mix of smoke and sweat. "A heart-shaped face. She is as pretty as a miracle, though no wonder with such a handsome mother. I'll you her fortune."

Hope you're reading something wonderful  too.