Customer Reviews

The Queen's Dollmaker

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Christine Trent's new historical novel titled The Queen's Dollmaker is the delightful story of one 18th century young woman's struggle for survival after a devastating Paris fire brings death to her family, leaving her home & father's workshop in ashes and ruin. Claudette Laurent is the daughter of an esteemed doll maker, a craftsman who created the most sought after finely detailed fashion dolls that every moneyed Parisian family coveted to delight and fancy their little girls with.

The terrifying inferno that stripped Claudette of her parents, leaves her fleeing France in the middle of the night and boarding ship to London as she is offered a way out of a future of prostitution, or the life of a street beggar. Crowded aboard ship with other girls her age, they are swept up bound for England and to be sold off to the London aristocracy as servants to earn their keep. Life scouring pots and scrubbing laundry after her gentle past-life of doll maker's apprentice, is not what Claudette has in mind. High in the attic of Lady Asby's estate, Claudette counts her pennies, stashing them away for an eventual escape out of hell. In her spare time, Claudette lifts scraps of wood and snips of fabric from the household trash, and in her secret attic hide-away, starts creating simple play dolls to be sold at the local marketplace. Finding her endeavors successful, she continues to hoard her earnings, saving for the day she can leave a life of servitude and rebuild her father's dream of being the finest doll maker in Europe. Inch by inch we watch Claudette become a woman with a mission. Readers will cheer her on, and delight in the innovative ideas that have her winning the hearts of London's finest, as her dolls become more and more exquisite, bringing riches beyond her imagination. Hard work soon pays off as Claudette and her friends open a meager store-front and begin to sell doll after doll after doll, each one unique in it's making, putting smiles on many a London face.

Before she can catch her breath with her newfound independence and wealth, she catches the eye of a London gentleman who courts her into a world of sweet and tender love. Added to her new treasure chest of good fortune, Claudette lands the commission of all dreams, to design a grand masterpiece doll for none other than France's spoiled Queen, Marie Antoinette. The Queen's Dollmaker is a coming of age story of a young girl who grows up quickly amidst court intrigue of both England and France. It is the tale of a young woman's fierce pride, determination, and love of her craft to the point of passionate obsession. This book slowly unravels Claudette's strength along a rocky road to success, independence, entrepreneurship, and love, during the horrors of the French Revolution. In addition to the main story of Claudette's world of dolls, the reader gets a brief education of the lives of Marie Antoinette and King Louis as their lives crash and fall during the reign of terror. Christine Trent shows great talent in this fine historical novel. Her writing style is polished, with dialog and storyline outstanding. I really enjoyed learning about the craft of Parisian doll making and give the author two thumbs up for creativity. Bravo for a wonderful entertaining story that will be followed up by a sequel soon.

The Queen's Dollmaker was a good book until I got about halfway through it and it started to just compress a lot of different story lines together. The book would have been better if it had just focused on the dollmaker and less on the queen's downfall, because it seemed like two totally different books that were merged together to create one storyline.

It was a free Kindle download, so not bad.

Am I the only one who noticed that at the beginning of the book, the main character was 5. Then, 16 years into the future, when the fire happens, she's only 16? I finally gave up on this book after 3 chapters, it was not worth my time. The author, and the editors, missed something as simple as continuity in the main character's age. Add to that the horrendous research the author did on that time period. I mean, seriously, someone of that class being able to read and also speak English. Yeah, yeah, her mom was English, but still unrealistic. Not to mention the walks she and her first boy took around Paris. If the author knew anything about the history of Paris, she would know that until the mid-to-late-19th Century, Parisians barely traveled more that 3 blocks from their home. Lower class people definitely weren't traveling to the Jardin Tuilleries on afternoon walks. They would never have had time. I can't stand historical books that have facts so blatantly wrong. If you're going to write it, take the time to research it. I recommend against reading this book. Sorry.

Paris 1765 Claudette Renee Laurient, daughter of a well known French doll maker suffered the tragic loss of her parents during a devastating fire. The fire not only took her parents but her home, her fathers doll shop, and her child hood sweetheart. Having nowhere to go she haphazardly wandered aimlessly looking for a hint of a recognizable face. Sweetheart Jean-Philippe and his family were nowhere to be found but maybe they had fled by boat. At the ship docks there was no sign of him or his family but she did cross another mans path. The man was seeking eligible women who wanted to work in England. Other elegant women waiting patiently to board and Claudette decided to take a chance and set sail across the channel.

Aboard she would befriend her life long best friend Beatrice. She had a timid personality and was more than likely because of the loss of her husband. Beatrice did have little Marguerite her shining star. A vibrant young child who was instantly drawn to Claudette. Besides meeting Beatrice she also met and befriended Lizbit. A loud fashionably dressed woman who I found myself imagining her talking wildly with her hands as she told lavish tales of her travels abroad. Prior to their arrival the men on board demanded that they all sign a document and Claudette being one of the few who could read realized they wanted to take almost half of her earned wages. My favorite part of the arrival was when all the women were all paraded out on the docks while future "employers" looked eagerly at them. Leave it to Lizbit to sound the alarm with "Ladies they mean to spoil your virtue"! Women scattered, yelling while Claudette and her new friends made a break for it. The recruiters hench men ran after them nipping at their heels. Luckily they out maneuvered the men and lost them.

With no where to go the two women and the child went to the church for help while Lizbit returned home to her rich aunt. Forced by hunger and lack of shelter the women went into the service of a nasty social climber Maude Ashby. Forever wishing to raise her families status she was an in home tyrant. Not to mention that the other servants would not mingle with the French girls and there was a deep animosity between them. Claudette had no other choice but to find the means to leave the oppressive tyrants home. The idea occurred to her why not make her own dolls? She was after all her fathers apprentice. Luckily in her escape from Paris she was able to salvage some items from the doll shop. With the help from her loyal friends and a few others seeking to better their lives she was able to make a dramatic exit from Maude Ashby's service and move up in status to become a tradeswoman.

Claudette was a rags to riches kind of girl with one exception, she made her own riches. Her talent and handy work spoke for themselves. She became successful in her own right. She was obviously lacking in the love department. I found Claudette's antics amusing. The longing for her lost love in Paris had faded over time and the handsome lord William Greycliffe "occupied a small portion of her heart she did not want him to have". She had first met him in her service days at the Ashby's home. Later her hopes were destroyed when she discovered he was married, but somethings do not last forever.

Pouring her heart and soul into creating intricately beautiful French dolls. Eventually caught the eye of the glittering queen of France, Marie Antoinette herself. The queen requested Claudette to pay a visit to the French court. Upon her arrival she was stunned and overjoyed to be reunited with her childhood sweetheart Jean-Philippe. Jean had entered the guard service for the queen and she was presented to the queen by him. Marie Antoinette had called upon her to make a special doll, one to be made like no other. Made with the exact likeness of the queens notorious favorite the beautiful Princesse de Lambelle.

At the queens request Claudette's every waking thought was about the "Lambelle doll". Her loyalty to the queen was unwavering in a time when the queens "frivolous" ways were severely scrutinized. Claudette found herself at one point torn between England and France. William or Jean? Both men loved her, but where was home and her heart? Her choice could affect so many that there was bound to be someone left disgruntled. Approaching the dangerous times of the French revolution her loyalties to the queen could put her in a perilous situation. Claudette could easily be swallowed up by the whirling vortex of chaos and terror that had taken full grip on all of France. Or could England become her safe haven?

The writing is of the this-happened-then-that-happened variety. Characters are as flat as paper dolls. None of them has a convincing personality. The plot relies heavily on coincidence to help move the characters from one situation to another. I wanted very much to like this book because I have enjoyed historical fiction for years, but good historical fiction has to be good fiction as well as good history. This fiction is not done well, it does not enhance the reading experience, it does not evoke any feeling beyond tedium. I kept hoping for a character to come alive on the page, to be someone I could care about. But then I started hoping for the book to end. I have read histories--non-fiction studies--that conveyed more sense of the people and the conditions being written about. This was one book that I was glad to remove from my Kindle because much as I enjoy re-reading most novels, I doubt that I ever will want to re-read The Queen's Dollmaker.

The story began well, but the conclusion was to convenient. I found the writing style to be very poor and the two different stories about Claudette and then the queen were too far disconnected. The story would have been better told only from Claudette's perspective, but I don't believe even a better story would have overcome the style of writing.

I couldn't get into this one, and I eventually gave up and a third of the way in. I don't know, but to me the writing seemed amateur-ish. Sentences were unnatural sounding, the way a fifth grader might write a story. The whole beginning of the story was not believable to me. What girl with a betrothal would leave the country within 24 hours of a disaster after a cursory search for her beloved and then never even try to write to him when she got there! I don't claim to be a writer, but this just isn't up to par with other good historical fiction in my opinion. I really hate to give up on a book, so at some point, probably when I don't have anything else to read, I will go back and try it again since it is already in my kindle because it looks like others really enjoyed it. Another thing that bothered me is the jumping back and forth between times and characters. Some authors are adept at doing that seamlessly, but this one seemed choppy and forced. It was very confusing and I had to keep turning back to the chapter before to look at the year, place, etc. Maybe I'll have better luck the second time around if I can ever make myself try it again.

I enjoyed this book because I felt there was some historical accuracy mixed in with fiction. It was fun to read and learn about the details of doll-making back in the 1700s. The love stories intertwined with the political turmoil of the French Revolution made for an interesting tale.

However, I felt like the story about Marie Antoinette was kind of out there and not really connected to the story of the main character, Claudette Laurent. It seemed that the author had to go a bit far to connect Claudette, the Queen, and Jean-Phillipe. Then the part about Claudette in France during the height of the Revolution and William Greycliffe coming to her rescue seemed implausible. I was also extremely bothered by the math - in the beginning of the book Claudette is 5, then 16 years later she's...16? I HATE continuity issues.

Pushing all that aside, the story seemed original and it seemed like the author did a lot of research, which I can respect. Claudette Laurent, the daughter of a prestigious dollmaker in Paris, loses everything in a fire (including her family and the shop), and manages to escape to London where she avoids becoming a prostitute and becomes a lady's maid. Soon, she's able to escape and open her own doll shop, which quickly becomes the rage of London.

The reader gets slight glimpses into the voices of the Revolution, but never a clear picture. In this aspect, the book jumps around too much, and I was never sure if I should be sympathizing with the Queen, or people who suffered from poor governing (such as Claudette -- if there were no protests, there would have been no fire and her life wouldn't have been destroyed).

Word of her dolls carries to her home country and Claudette gets to meet the Queen and work on some commissions from her. Her time in France seems like a fairy tale and you can see why poorer people and the working class would be upset - the Queen did seem to be living quite lavishly.

There were some extraneous characters, and the whole Lizbit/Jean-Phillipe storyline also seemed far-fetched. The book drags at some points - it works well for those who are really interested in the French Revolution, how France was viewed by Londoners at the time, and those who love historical novels.

I love historical fiction with female heroines and I wanted to like this. The premise and framing of the story were clever but it simply does not hang together. I kept feeling like the author had gone to a historic fiction writing workshop and learned to write a great outline and do good research on the time period, but didn't pay attention to the creative writing or dialogue sections of the workshop! I guess I'm most disappointed because I recognized this book as having potential and feel that it would just require a great editor to overhaul it and make it a good book.

This novel is a nice escape into 18th century France and England. The author is a good writer and successfully follows the life of a young doll maker, whose parents die in a tragic fire when she was a teenager. She then moves to England and has to find her own way to survive. Trent creates a character with a lot of wit and heart, who is much different than the stereotypical woman of her time. The character has the ability to think on her own, which I very much apprecieated while reading. I really liked reading a historical fiction novel, not only of France, but of England as well. I definately enjoyed the parts of the novel centering around Claudette (the young doll maker) more than the bits about the Queen of France, but even those parts I found to be enjoyable. The author also did a good job separating the two women's stories, so that I wasn't confused when I was transported to the different story. Overall, it was an enjoyable book that allowed me to sit down and relax for a few nights over the last week.