Marie Antoinette - The Journey

In this stunning biography, Antonia Fraser charts the journey made by this ill-fated Queen. Although Marie Antoinette ultimately bore for children, salacious slurs about their parentage and accusations of lesbianism were given credence by the long impotence of the King. But throughout these tribulations, the Queen's character gained in strength. The all educated and untrained girl, mocked by the French for her lack of sophistication, would grow into a magnificent, courageous woman. Her behaviour last days of the Ancien Regime, above all at her trial, aroused even her enemies admiration. But it did not saver from execution by the guillotine in 1793. In this sympathetic - but never uncritical - study, the author has avoided the hagiography of some of Marie Antoinette's admirers and misogyny of many of her critics...