Customer Reviews

Mistress of the Revolution: A Novel

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The French revolution is one of those eras in history that it seemed like I would never understand. There were too many political twists, too many people involved, and too many perspectives on the whole thing. This novel, "Mistress of the revolution" went a long way in helping me to understand this complicated and horrible time in history.

Gabrielle is only eleven years old when her brother the Marquis de Castel takes her from the convent which is educating her and brings her to her family home and to her mother for the first time since she was born. Raised by country peasants and nuns, Gabrielle is kind and takes her mothers consent criticisms in stride along with her brother's increasingly strange attentions. But when she falls in love with a local man she sees a chance to escape.

But this is not in her cards. Gabrielle is married off to an older cousin who abuses her in his quest for an heir. Upon his death he leaves her and her daughter destitute and with no where to go until a kind friend reminds her of a distant relation in Paris. In the city of lights she flourishes but still needs a means to provide for herself and her daughter. Work is out because of her social status and marriage is out because of her lack of funds leaving her only one option-become a wealthy man's mistress.

But the time of the French revolution, the great terror is fast approaching and Paris is becoming a turbulent sea of politics. Can Gabrielle, a noble woman, a kept woman and a young mother survive the coming storm on her own? Or will she need to depend on the help of an old friend?

"Mistress of the Revolution" is a first person memoir type account of one woman's experience during the French Revolution. For a first novel it is charming and informative but at times seems a bit like a textbook on the rev. with a side story included. Very adult themes such as incest, spousal abuse, rape and of course all of the horrors of "the terror" make this a book not for people who can't take violence.

All in all I really enjoyed reading this book and sped right through it. But at times it seems the complex plot is secondary to the immense amount of info included on the causes and progress of the revolution. This could of course be attributed to Gabrielle herself-she is writing an informative memoir to give to someone-but at times it made me lose sight of the characters. In general though, the charming writing style and easy to understand historical information made up for the faults.

Four stars and I recommend keeping an eye on the author's future works.

More than a year ago, I joined an online group of readers who focused on historical novels. Through them, I have found a renewed interest in fiction and nonfiction set in the past, and have happily discovered some new authors to try on.

One of these was newcomer Catherine Delors. Her novel, Mistress of the Revolution may at first appear to be not much more than yet another novel set during the fall of the French monarchy, and the rise of the French Revolution and all of the adventure that would create. It's proved to be very fertile ground for novelists, and in recent years, there has been a real upsurge of interest in the period. Sadly, most of what gets published is not much more than trite modern romance dressed up in fancy clothes, and where authors betray their own lack of research with every word that their characters utter. And these sorts of novels were what have caused me to loose interest in the genre, swamped as it is with heaving bosoms and too perfect characters.

So it was with some trepidation that I ordered this from Amazon. But once I started reading, I was in for a very pleasant surprise. The story starts in a rather classic way, with a young girl of eleven being suddenly called home to the family chateau from a convent. Gabrielle de Montserrat is fresh and lovely, and just a bit on the determined side. While she knows that she has a duty to her family and class, there's a part of herself that aches to move beyond the constrants of her existance. If she just knew what they were.

Four years pass, with Gabrielle running wild, enjoying the company of her elder brother, the Marquis de Casel, and chafing under the restrictions of her rather cold-blooded mother. But a warm summer's day brings her to the notice of a young man, Andre-Pierre Coffinhal, an aspiring doctor from a nearby town. They're smitten by each other, and vow to be together in that mad rush of a first love, but when her brother finds out, Gabrielle is forced to marry someone else.

Her husband, while of appropriate rank and wealth, treats Gabrielle with seeming goodwill in public, but in private treats her with distain and brutality. The only good thing to come of the marriage is her beloved daughter Aimee, and Gabrielle vows to make her daughter's life very different than her own. But when the husband dies sudden, Gabrielle finds herself in genteel poverty, and being discarded by her own family.

What's a French girl to do but go to Paris? With a benefactress, the Duchess, and a ready wit of her own, Gabrielle finds the court at Versailles a new world indeed. Through Gabrielle's eyes we see her meet the influential and famous, and the Count de Villars, a handsome nobleman who tempts Gabrielle besides her fears to take a daring step.

But everything comes to an end when revolutionary fervour sweeps France, and Gabrielle has to make some choices of her own...

I must say, that while the plot of this one is rather standard -- girl meets boy, girl looses boy, girl struggles through many obstacles and so on -- I was thrilled by the fact that Catherine Delors uses reality to not just form the background of her novel, but also to motivate and build her characters. They speak in the style of the period, look at the world with the minds and attitudes of the time, and behave accordingly. While Gabrielle is very naive at the start -- how many mature teenagers do we really know? -- she does learn from her experiences, growing into a woman that we can both like and sympathize with. It's this handling of her characters that really makes this novel shine for me, these are all flesh and blood people, who have reasons for what they do.

One special moment for me was a discussion of the novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses, which really was a scandal at the time, and being that I have been a fan both the written and film versions, this was like having a little extra to the story. The author continues the same touches in clothing, music, and art of the time, with Gabrielle interacting with many of the known artists and writers of the time. It's something that really does help to flesh out the story.

All in all, I really liked this one. It's packed with plenty of drama, lots of description, and the author never loses sight of the time and place, and especially of her characters. I won't be a bit surprised if this is one of my top ten novels for the year. In any case, I hope that Ms. Delors continues to write, this is a very promising start!

And do keep the tissues handy for the last part of the novel.

Five stars overall.

France, 1780. Gabrielle de Montserrat is a noblewoman -- one with no money and therefore no dowry. She would have to be the best at everything else to land a great marriage. But her family finds her lacking in every sense. She had once trusted her brother, until he does unspeakable things to her. When she falls in love with Pierre-Andre, she feels her life has meaning. And when her brother, who has absolute power as his sister's guardian, forces her to marry an aging but wealthy man, takes that away from her, Gabrielle's world is shattered all over again. Gabrielle has no idea what fate will deal her when she arrives at the court of Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette. In the midst of the French Revolution, Gabrielle will have to decide whether to do what is expected of her or follow her heart, even if it means facing the guillotine.

The other reviewers will probably disagree with my review, but I like to give an honest opinion on what I read and my perspective will be somewhat different from the other reviewers on this page. The story is well written and the historical aspect is dead on. I was impressed with that aspect of Mistress of the Revolution. However, I thought the story was somewhat boring and I had a hard time getting into it. The first-person narrative didn't help. It somehow didn't work for me. Gabrielle's brother is disgusting and despicable, and there are other characters that will make you hate them here as well. The star-crossed romance between Gabrielle and Pierre-Andre is also kind of nice, and the backdrop of Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution is done well, but none of these things makes up for the fact that, as a whole, this novel is simply not engaging enough. Perhaps it is due to the fact that the historical aspect is more fascinating than the fictional part. To me, there's got to be a balance between the two. I hope Catherine Delors will learn to have a balance between the two in the near future. For now, her work is more of a miss than a hit.

Well-drawn characters, gripping storylines, and rich descriptions fill the pages of debut author Catherine Delors's "Mistress of the Revolution".

Set during the years leading up to and through the French Revolution, this epic novel finds young noblewoman Gabrielle de Montserrat falling in love with commoner Pierre-Andre Coffinhal. Her brother forbids their union and forces her into a marriage to an aging and wealthy cousin who mistreats her.

After the sudden and unexpected death of her abusive husband, Gabrielle goes to Paris to make a life for her and her young daughter, Aimee. As the threat of revolution hangs overhead, Gabrielle becomes a kept woman and a lady in the court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. When Gabrielle is faced with the guillotine, she reaches out to Pierre-Andre, who had fled to Paris to become a lawyer when he was denied her hand in marriage. The two lovers search for a way to hold onto each other, as violence swirls around them; pulling everyone and everything into its grasp.

Every so often I pick up a book whose hook has such dramatic impact that I must read it again. Such is the case with "Mistress of the Revolution" by Catherine Delors. Many years in the future, the narrator, Gabrielle tells of the exhuming of the bodies of the late King and Queen of France, thereby setting the scene for all that will unfold in subsequent pages.

While a first person narrative often distances the reader from the story, Gabrielle never once distracted me from all that was happening in and around France in the late 1700's. A tremendous amount goes on within the 450 pages of this fascinating and captivating novel. Fully explored were the relationships between Gabrielle and her family, Pierre-Andre, her lover Villers, Aimee, and the friendships she maintained and lost through the years. Rich and vivid details flowed throughout, drawing the reader deeper and deeper into a story that realistically portrayed the plight of the late 18th century woman and the tragic events that unfolded in France during the reign of King Louis XVI and beyond.

My one and only disappointment is the cover. The artwork was taken from a famous painting titled, The Stolen Kiss, by Jean Honore Fragonard. The image was reversed so that the table and chair are on the left and the gentleman stealing the kiss on the right. I would much have preferred to have seen more of the image of the gentleman--which is hidden inside the book flap--than the furniture, but it is still a strikingly handsome cover.

"Mistress of the Revolution" is a story of impossible love pitted against the most tumultuous time period in France's history. It is a novel that will reward the reader in every aspect and leave her desiring to read it again as soon as the last word is read. I eagerly look forward to the next book by talented newcomer Catherine Delors.

I had a little bit of a hard time deciding on a rating for this novel. Its strengths are the clarity of the narrative, the historical detail and the sympathetic main character.

I found most of its weaknesses rolled up in the same main character. Gabrielle de Montserrat is a passive character. Lots of things happen to her--lots of ugly things. I understand we live in a different era where women's rights are an accepted fact, but I found the heroine's treatment by the three men who claimed to love her absolutely appalling. Not one of them was worthy of her--including her true love. I sometimes found it hard to root for Gabrielle because she stayed with men who treated her poorly. I sympathized with her while wanting to shake some sense into her at the same time.

That said, I still cared about Gabrielle and willingly followed her adventures before, during and after the Revolution. I liked the historical detail provided about these events although I would have liked to have seen Gabrielle take a more active role in the things going on around her.

Overall it was an entertaining read. I'll definitely be on the lookout for the author's next book.

This is a fictional memoir of the French Revolution as told by Gabrielle de Montserrat. Gabrielle is born into an impoverished aristocratic family some 20 years before the Revolution. One fateful day down by the river while visiting her old wet nurse she meets and falls in love with Pierre-Andre, a young doctor and member of the Bourgeoisie class. Pierre returns Gabriel's feelings and asks her to marry him without consulting her brother, who since Gabrielle is female, is in charge of each and every aspect of her life.

Her family wants to wed her to an older but wealthy cousin. However, Pierre's proposal sets the stage for major drama and Gabrielle refuses and try's to run away. This gives her brother the upper hand now as he can now arrest and kill Pierre by horrible means for being part of a young woman trying to run away from her family. To save the life of the man she loves Gabrielle agrees to the marriage.

All of this sets the stage for Gabrielle's introduction to Parisian society. Of course, being in Paris places her directly in the path of the bloody and terrifying events meant to "liberate" France from the social class Gabriel is a part of.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It is packed full of information about the daily lives of France's aristocratic women and the events leading up to and during the Revolution. In the beginning of the book, I did not think I was going to like Gabriel much but after she showed some spunk in defying her family to follow her heart she really grew on me. However, towards the end of the book though she started to regress towards the whiney wimpy Gabrielle of the beginning. Phrases like "OK you can beat me now" just sort of got on my nerves.

Also, while I appreciated all the historical detail and I learned a lot about the French Revolution, I would've appreciated it if more of those details were worked into the plot instead of being presented as a regurgitation of facts in the form of dialogue between two characters. More story, less telling!

However, despite those issues, this really was a good novel. I found myself being anxious to get back to it each time I had to put it down. I'd often heard of the guillotine as being described as "humane" and I never understood until I read this book how that could be the case. Trust me, compared to what they did prior to, it really was!!

4/5 stars.

The book is based upon true events of the French Revolution. Many of the characters are inspired by historical figures.

The story centers on Gabrielle de Montserrat, born of noble blood. Her mistake was to fall in love with a commoner, Pierre-Andrè Coffinhal. Throughout the story, I tingled with excitement as I thought I knew what was going to happen next. This was all a vain attempt on my part, as the author surprised me with each new twist.

Gabrielle's story is a fictional memoir, told in her own voice as she recounts her life beginning when her brother and guardian, Gèraud de Monsterrat, Marquis de Castel, brought her to live with him. Later on in the story, after meeting and falling in love with Pierre-Andrè Coffinhal, her brother finds out and she is forced into a marriage with a sadistic husband.

Her life has many phases, one of which will lead her to Paris where she will again meet Pierre-Andrè. During this time, France is unstable, on the brink of political and social upheaval. The decisions she made seemed the best at the time, but even towards the end, she wondered what would have happened if she had decided differently. It's something I am still pondering over.

The author should be commended her display of realism. This book took me so far into the story that I completely forgot about my own life. Luckily, we are on spring break and I have some free time. Oh, let me warn you now, although it might be tempting to read the last few chapter to see what will happen in the end, DON'T! I am one to talk since that is what I usually do. For some reason, I didn't in this book. I guess I was so busy reading that I forgot. Anyway, I'm glad I didn't as it will ruin the book.

This is first and foremost an exquisite exercise in the intertwining of details, all true to the period, most arising from in the historic record, for which the author's website reveals that she relied heavily on original sources such as 18th century memoirs and actual trial transcripts, and the rest coming to life in the intersticies.

The character development is so subtle, a line here or there, but soon each is alive and at once haunting. The author quoates Alain Jouffroy at the beginning:

"It is beautiful to meet someone. It can happen anywhere in the world. Anytime, But the strangest thing is that one does not only meet the living, and that meeting a dead person can change your life."

And as has been noted above, this is not a novel for the feint of heart. With that caution, go forth and experience life.

While reading this novel, I had to put it down several times and go do something else; it made me so angry. As others have noted, the main character, Gabrielle, comes across as thoroughly weak and contradictory. She is alternately self-righteous and self-serving, while consistently betraying everything and everyone she claims to care about. To make matters worse, the history espoused in Mistress of the Revolution is patently dishonest.
I should have known the story was heading for trouble in the first chapter when Gabrielle, a French aristocrat, notices a hangman's scaffold near her family chateau. Her brother the Marquis assures her that it's a good way of keeping the peasants in line. Gab then goes on to tell us that her brother, as a nobleman, has the power to execute anyone in his domain for any crime.
Historically, this is untrue. French nobility did not have the power of life and death over their tenants, which the author makes evident a few chapters later, thereby contradicting herself in the first chapter. But then what do the facts matter? This is fiction afterall.
A little later we learn that the Marquis harbors incestuous feelings towards his sister, but not to worry, she soon falls in love with a commoner, the esteemed Coffinhal. Alas, the evil Marquis thwarts the young lovers by marrying Gab off to a Marquis de Sade wannabe. After submitting to his abuse for a while, one day she catches him in the middle of raping a servant. Rather than try and help the poor girl, Gab tells her man to enjoy himself. Better the maid, she reasons, than herself!
Eventually dear Gab runs off to Paris, just in time for the Revolution. In quick order, she offends the Queen, rejects the court at Versailles, and captures the affection of two more aristocrats: Villers and Lauzun. Torn between her high moral standards, and a need to support herself, Gab expertly plays one man against the other, accepting the highest bidder. Villers wins, to his great misfortune. While Gab happily spends his money, she proceeds to drive him insane with jealousy by flirting with his rival, the looser Lauzun.
Lauzun as it turns out, was a real person, famous in history as an enemy of Marie-Antoinette. Ms. Delors informs us that he rejected the Queen's advances, and so earned her lasting hatred. In reality, it was just the opposite, as any history book will tell you. A notorious womanizer, Lauzun exceeded himself by making a pass at Marie-Antoinette, and she promptly had him banned from her inner-circle. He then went to great and comic lengths to regain her favor, but to no effect.
Soon the Revolution begins in earnest, which Gabrielle inexplicably supports despite the fact that she's utterly dependent on the status quo. In fact, in direct contradiction to her political beliefs, she suddenly decides to take a job at the Royal court, conveniently placing herself at the Tuileries Palace just in time to witness the fall of the monarchy.
Here's where the author's credibility starts to really break down. Ms. Delors informs us that the tyrannical King Louis vetoed legislation to re-supply the French army at the front, in some nefarious wish to aide the Austrians, and thereby enraging honest French patriots. Better known as the Jacobins, these patriots then staged a coup d'etat, sized power, and launched an attack on the palace.
What history says, however, is that Louis nixed a bill ordering the arrest of all the priests and nuns who remained loyal to the Pope, thus rousing the anti-religious Jacobins to action. Why this fabrication on the author's part, and what purpose it serves the plot, I could not guess.
But back to the fiction. We are not only supposed to believe that Gab survives the enusing attack on the Tuileries, but that her lover, Villers (up till now an ardent revolutionary) suddenly changes colors and sides with the Royals.
Poor Gab survives one massacre only to find herself in the middle of another. Landing in La Force prison, she witnesses the horrific mass-murder of her fellow inmates by a mob of overzealous "patriots." Again she narrowly escapes death even as she befriends her would-be-murderer (who's clothing is drenched with the blood of his victims). She then charms him into giving her a ride home, even giving him a valuable gift in gratitude for his kindness.
On the way out of the slaughter, she spots the mutilated body of the Princesse de Lamballe and expriences a moment of pity. Her new homicidal friend assures her that Lamballe deserves no sympathy. You see, the Queen's friend was pardoned by the patriots, but then foolishly refused to swear an oath of allegiance, and so they politely killed her.
Now back to reality. The Princesse de Lamballe was dragged from her cell, gang-raped, and then hacked to pieces. Her head and genitalia were paraded around Paris as trophies. Again the author eschews the facts in favor of painting the Massacres as a sort of benign exercise in civility.
Still in danger, the faithless Gabrielle finally seeks out her long-lost first love, Coffinhal, who is now a Revolutionary judge. After humiliating her, treating her like a whore, and threatening to have her arrested, good old Gab decides she's still in love with the man. Thus begins what she describes as "the happiest days of her life." With Coffinhal's help, she takes on a false identity and becomes his secret mistress. Meanwhile, she works as a seamstress, lives like a hermit, and sits quietly at her true love's side as he sentences hundreds of people to the guillotine.
But alas, fate eventually catches up with our bloodsoaked lovers, as yet another coup topples the "patriots," and Coffinhal and his cronies suddenly find themselves on the wrong side of the chopping block. Then in true Dickensesque style, he nobly sacrifices himself so that his dear Gabrielle might escape, but not before inpregnating her with his love-child.
Skip ahead a few decades to the end, and we find Gab living comfortably in England, married to a British aristocrat, and pining for the good ol'days of the French Revolution.
Personally, I found myself wishing she would travel back in time and share her lover's fate. I give it three stars for the author's creativity and imagination, but then subtract two for historical dishonesty. That leaves one star.

Set during the years that led up to the French Revolution, Mistress of the Revolution tells the story of french noblewoman Gabrielle de Montserrat as she fights to survive in radically changing, and increasingly hostel, world.

Mistress of the Revolution is a wonderful debut novel from Catherine Delors, a native of France and practicing American attorney. It is well-written, engaging, and appeals to female readers who are fans of Diane Haeger, Philippa Gregory, and any British/French historical novel. I would hesitate to call this a romance, however, because even though a core element of the plot is the forbidden love between Gabrielle and commoner Piere-Andre, there seems to be little romance between the two characters past the first hundred pages.

However, as a purely historical novel, this novel was epic. The reader follows Gabrielle's life, from her forced marriage to an abusive husband, her journey to Paris and subsequent introduction to court life, and her struggle to avoid the guillotine during the Revolution. The story encompassed nearly every all of Gabrielle's experiences and perfectly sketched a picture of what life was like for noblewomen in French society. Even though Gabrielle is not a particularly strong character, she is a survivor that any woman, and mother, can connect with.

At times this novel did become a little tedious and long, and frankly, I think that it should have been edited down a little bit more. There were also a few small plot holes and some character reactions that didn't quite make sense -for example, after being told for several pages that she should never be alone with a man, Gabrielle seems to have few objections to being alone with a strange man in the very next chapter.

Most of these issues are minor and can be overlooking due to the overall quality of the work. I have a feeling that Delors' follow-up novels will be even better. Heck, they'll probably on the New York Times Bestsellers' List. She may never achieve the level of popularity that Philippa Gregory has, but she definitely has a chance.