Marie-Therese: The Fate of Marie Antoinette's Daughter - Softcover

Nagel, Susan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1596910585 ISBN 13: 9781596910584

Publisher: Bloomsbury Pub Plc USA, 2009

Synopsis

Susan Nagel, author of the critically acclaimed biography Mistress of the Elgin Marbles, turns her attention to the life of a remarkable woman who both defined and shaped an era, the tumultuous last days of the crumbling ancien regime. Nagel brings the formidable Marie-Therese to life, along with the age of revolution and the waning days of the aristocracy, in a page-turning biography that will appeal to fans of Antonia Fraser's Marie Antoinette and Amanda Foreman's Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire.
In December 1795, at midnight on her seventeenth birthday, Marie-Therese, the only surviving child of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, escaped from Paris's notorious Temple Prison. To this day many believe that the real Marie-Therese, traumatized following her family's brutal execution during the Reign of Terror, switched identities with an illegitimate half sister who was often mistaken for her twin. Was the real Marie-Therese spirited away to a remote castle to live her life as the woman called "the Dark Countess," while an imposter played her role on the political stage of Europe? Now, two hundred years later, using handwriting samples, DNA testing, and an undiscovered cache of Bourbon family letters, Nagel finally solves this mystery. She tells the remarkable story in full and draws a vivid portrait of an astonishing woman who both defined and shaped an era. Marie-Therese's deliberate choice of husbands determined the map of nineteenth-century Europe. Even Napoleon was in awe and called her "the only man in the family." Nagel's gripping narrative captures the events of her fascinating life from her very public birth in front of the rowdy crowds and her precocious childhood to her hideous time in prison and her later reincarnation in the public eye as a saint, and, above all, her fierce loyalty to France throughout.

About this title

Review:

"Taking one of those fascinating lives that have remained too long untold, Susan Nagel's Marie-Therese is a well-researched, entertaining and often poignant biography that recreates royalty, terror, tragedy, revolution, and restoration with verve and vividness."--Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of "Young Stalin" and "Stalin: The Court of the Red Star" "If there is a more fascinating or unbelievable life than the one led by Marie-Therese-Charlotte, Marie Antoinette's sole surviving child, I certainly am not familiar with it. In this lively, gripping new biography, Susan Nagel recounts Marie-Therese-Charlotte's roller-coaster itinerary from a revolutionary prison, where she spent three years of her girlhood, to the throne of Restoration France, where she reigned for a mere twenty minutes. Royal orphan and republican bete noire, the subject of fervent monarchist adoration and the object obsessive conspiracy theories, this princess emerges in Nagel's telling as one of the nineteenth century's most captivating heroines. A must-read for lovers of French history and royal biography alike."--Caroline Weber, author of "QUEEN OF FASHION: WHAT MARIE ANTOINETTE WORE TO THE REVOLUTION"
"Masterly and compelling... a triumph." --Tina Brown, author of "The Diana Chronicles" "A powerful story told with wonderful verve: a triumph." -Amanda Foreman, author of "Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire" "This highly detailed, exhaustively researched, often riveting account will appeal especially to all those readers who've immersed themselves in the many recent books about Marie Antoinette." --"Booklist," starred review "Taking one of those fascinating lives that have remained too long untold, Susan Nagel's Marie-Therese is a well-researched, entertaining and often poignant biography that recreates royalty, terror, tragedy, revolution, and restoration with verve and vividness."--Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of "Young Stalin" and "Stalin: The Court of the Red Star" "If there is a more fascinating or unbelievable life than the one led by Marie-Therese-Charlotte, Marie Antoinette's sole surviving child, I certainly am not familiar with it. In this lively, gripping new biography, Susan Nagel recounts Marie-Therese-Charlotte's roller-coaster itinerary from a revolutionary prison, where she spent three years of her girlhood, to the throne of Restoration France, where she reigned for a mere twenty minutes. Royal orphan and republican bete noire, the subject of fervent monarchist adoration and the object obsessive conspiracy theories, this princess emerges in Nagel's telling as one of the nineteenth century's most captivating heroines. A must-read for lovers of French history and royal biography alike."--Caroline Weber, author of "QUEEN OF FASHION: WHAT MARIE ANTOINETTE WORE TO THE REVOLUTION"
"This is a fascinating, readable, and engrossing book that should interest general readers and scholars alike... Highly Recommended"--"Library Journal," starred review "Masterly and compelling... a triumph." --Tina Brown, author of "The Diana Chronicles" "A powerful story told with wonderful verve: a triumph." -Amanda Foreman, author of "Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire" "This highly detailed, exhaustively researched, often riveting account will appeal especially to all those readers who've immersed themselves in the many recent books about Marie Antoinette." --"Booklist," starred review "Taking one of those fascinating lives that have remained too long untold, Susan Nagel's Marie-Therese is a well-researched, entertaining and often poignant biography that recreates royalty, terror, tragedy, revolution, and restoration with verve and vividness."--Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of "Young Stalin" and "Stalin: The Court of the Red Star" "If there is a more fascinating or unbelievable life than the one led by Marie-Therese-Charlotte, Marie Antoinette's sole surviving child, I certainly am not familiar with it. In this lively, gripping new biography, Susan Nagel recounts Marie-Therese-Charlotte's roller-coaster itinerary from a revolutionary prison, where she spent three years of her girlhood, to the throne of Restoration France, where she reigned for a mere twenty minutes. Royal orphan and republican bete noire, the subject of fervent monarchist adoration and the object obsessive conspiracy theories, this princess emerges in Nagel's telling as one of the nineteenth century's most captivating heroines. A must-read for lovers of French history and royal biography alike."--Caroline Weber, author of "QUEEN OF FASHION: WHAT MARIE ANTOINETTE WORE TO THE REVOLUTION"
"Gripping....providing new insights into a misunderstood and tragic figure and showing us the real human buffeted by all those historical crosscurrents."--Martin Rubin, "Washington Times" "This is a fascinating, readable, and engrossing book that should interest general readers and scholars alike... Highly Recommended"--"Library Journal," starred review "Masterly and compelling... a triumph." --Tina Brown, author of "The Diana Chronicles" "A powerful story told with wonderful verve: a triumph." -Amanda Foreman, author of "Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire" "This highly detailed, exhaustively researched, often riveting account will appeal especially to all those readers who've immersed themselves in the many recent books about Marie Antoinette." --"Booklist," starred review "Taking one of those fascinating lives that have remained too long untold, Susan Nagel's Marie-Therese is a well-researched, entertaining and often poignant biography that recreates royalty, terror, tragedy, revolution, and restoration with verve and vividness."--Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of "Young Stalin" and "Stalin: The Court of the Red Star" "If there is a more fascinating or unbelievable life than the one led by Marie-Therese-Charlotte, Marie Antoinette's sole surviving child, I certainly am not familiar with it. In this lively, gripping new biography, Susan Nagel recounts Marie-Therese-Charlotte's roller-coaster itinerary from a revolutionary prison, where she spent three years of her girlhood, to the throne of Restoration France, where she reigned for a mere twenty minutes. Royal orphan and republican bete noire, the subject of fervent monarchist adoration and the object obsessive conspiracy theories, thisprincess emerges in Nagel's telling as one of the nineteenth century's most captivating heroines. A must-read for lovers of French history and royal biography alike."--Caroline Weber, author of "QUEEN OF FASHION: WHAT MARIE ANTOINETTE WORE TO THE REVOLUTION"
"The woman in these pages emerges...as a veritable prototype of saintly Catholic forgiveness." "--The Atlantic Monthly"

"In "Marie-Therese, Child of Terror," Susan Nagel...faces the challenge of turning this largely unknown and fairly unsympathetic historical figure into a lively biographical subject....[Nagel] does capture the peculiar humanity of her subject as she evolved from princess to prisoner to decorous matron." --Valerie Styker," New York Times Book Review"""

"Gripping....providing new insights into a misunderstood and tragic figure and showing us the real human buffeted by all those historical crosscurrents." --Martin Rubin, "Washington Times"

"A fascinating, readable, and engrossing book that should interest general readers and scholars alike." --"Library Journal," starred review

"This highly detailed, exhaustively researched, often riveting account will appeal especially to all those readers who've immersed themselves in the many recent books about Marie Antoinette" --"Booklist," starred review

"Relates the dramatic highs and lows experienced by the woman known as "Madame Royale.,.".highly detailed and sympathetic." --"Publishers Weekly"

"Enlivened by intriguing asides about the young Marie-Therese, such as the special sign language she developed to communicate with her parents in prison and the impact on her own development of her mother's bravery in the face of the French Revolution." --"Kirkus Reviews"

"Masterly and compelling...a triumph." --Tina Brown, author of the "Diana Chronicles "

"Few historical tales can match the family drama of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Beheaded in 1793 during the French Revolution, they left behind a daughter, Marie-Therese, who did everything she could to help restore the Bourbons to the throne. Author Susan Nagel puts to rest most of the doubts about the Bourbons (Was Therese the legitimate daughter? Did her brother the dauphin really die in Temple Prison?) via a thorough analysis of DNA samples and handwriting in family letters. But the best part of the tale isn't the clarification of the historical record--it's the engaging portrait Nagel paints of a young woman who gave up everything for the love of France and her family." --"Virtuoso Life"

"Taking one of those fascinating lives that have remained too long untold, Susan Nagel's "Marie-Therese" is a well-researched, entertaining and often poignant biography that recreates royalty, terror, tragedy, revolution, and restoration with verve and vividness." --Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of "Young Stalin" and "Stalin: The Court of the Red Star"

“Capture[s] the peculiar humanity of her subject as she evolved from princess to prisoner to decorous matron.”—"New York Times Book Review

"“This highly detailed, exhaustively researched, often riveting account will appeal especially to all those readers who’ve immersed themselves in the many recent books about Marie Antoinette.”—"Booklist "(starred review)

“A fascinating, readable, and engrossing book that should interest general readers and scholars alike.”—"Library Journal "(starred review)

"Capture[s] the peculiar humanity of her subject as she evolved from princess to prisoner to decorous matron."--"New York Times Book Review

""This highly detailed, exhaustively researched, often riveting account will appeal especially to all those readers who've immersed themselves in the many recent books about Marie Antoinette."--"Booklist "(starred review)

"A fascinating, readable, and engrossing book that should interest general readers and scholars alike."--"Library Journal "(starred review)

Capture[s] the peculiar humanity of her subject as she evolved from princess to prisoner to decorous matron. "New York Times Book Review"

This highly detailed, exhaustively researched, often riveting account will appeal especially to all those readers who've immersed themselves in the many recent books about Marie Antoinette. "Booklist (starred review)"

A fascinating, readable, and engrossing book that should interest general readers and scholars alike. "Library Journal (starred review)""

-Capture[s] the peculiar humanity of her subject as she evolved from princess to prisoner to decorous matron.- --New York Times Book Review

-This highly detailed, exhaustively researched, often riveting account will appeal especially to all those readers who've immersed themselves in the many recent books about Marie Antoinette.- --Booklist (starred review)

-A fascinating, readable, and engrossing book that should interest general readers and scholars alike.- --Library Journal (starred review)

"Capture[s] the peculiar humanity of her subject as she evolved from princess to prisoner to decorous matron." --New York Times Book Review

"This highly detailed, exhaustively researched, often riveting account will appeal especially to all those readers who've immersed themselves in the many recent books about Marie Antoinette." --Booklist (starred review)

"A fascinating, readable, and engrossing book that should interest general readers and scholars alike." --Library Journal (starred review)

About the Author:

Susan Nagel is the author of Mistress of the Elgin Marbles and a critically acclaimed book on the novels of Jean Giraudoux. She has written for the stage, screen, and scholarly journals. She is a professor of humanities at Marymount Manhattan College and lives in New York City.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Pub Plc USA
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1596910585
• ISBN 13: 9781596910584
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 418