Versailles: A Novel [Paperback]

Kathryn Davis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 5, 2003

Wittily entertaining and astonishingly wise, this novel of the life of Marie Antoinette finds the characters struggling to mind their step in the great ballroom of the world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Davis (Walking Tour) takes liberties with the legend of Marie Antoinette in this novelization of the doomed queen's life, narrated as a series of sketches told mainly from Antoinette's point of view. As Davis imagines it, Antoinette is a bawdy, clever, forthright young woman interested above all in her own pleasures; she and her bumbling husband, Louis XVI, are guilty of little more than enjoying their courtly privileges. Davis has a light touch, and she sometimes wryly acknowledges questions of historical veracity that the novel inevitably raises. Recalling a conversation with Axel, a member of the Swedish court and object of her affection, Antoinette says, "Of course these may not have been our exact words, though they're close enough, at least in spirit." A few pages later, in case the reader gets any ideas about consulting an encyclopedia: "Nor does it matter, really, if Axel was my lover, in the physical sense at least.... It matters to historians, most of them men. It matters to gossips, most of them women. The pleasure is in the speculation.... Were we sexually intimate? What difference could it possibly make to you?" Such playful self-reflexivity is woven through accounts of historic events and personages, among them Madame Du Barry, Mirabeau and the story of the imprisonment and execution of the king and queen. Davis's Antoinette a wit and a flirt is bewitching, and the book is an alternately funny and melancholy meditation on the passage of time and the vagaries of history.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Davis (The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf) offers a short but poignant meditation on the life of Marie Antoinette and the role of fate in our lives. Much has been written about that queen, but this novel is unique, using Versailles and its Hall of Mirrors as much more than just a building and a room. Versailles was built to reflect the glory and power of Louis XIV, but by the end of the 18th century it had become a cocoon sheltering its inhabitants in a beautiful but artificial world. At the age of 14, Marie leaves her Austrian homeland to join her fiance, the eventual Louis XVI. Never quite at home in France and never really accepted by her subjects, she finds solace in Versailles itself. She flits from room to room, from circumstance to circumstance, unaware of the symbol she has become until it is too late. The portrait that emerges is of a woman hemmed in by fate and her own na‹vet‚, who has her faults but who is nonetheless courageous and devoted to her family. Told from Marie's perspective, this is a refreshing change of pace from the typical historical novel and is highly recommended to all public and most academic libraries. David W. Henderson, Eckerd Coll. Lib., St. Petersburg, FL
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Back Bay Books (September 5, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316737615
• ISBN-13: 978-0316737616
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.7 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #791,504 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A strange but poetic experience, December 22, 2002

By 

Kelly (Fantasy Literature) (Columbia, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Versailles: A Novel (Hardcover)

It all depends, I suppose, on what you're looking for in a historical novel. If you are seeking a sprawling epic that follows a famous personage from birth to death and all points between, like the books of Margaret George or Jean Plaidy, you will be disappointed with _Versailles_. Kathryn Davis's novel about Marie Antoinette will seem episodic, disjointed, and inaccurate. Due to Davis's penchant for writing disconnected scenes, rather than a flowing narrative, parts of this book make no sense unless you're armed with a great deal of knowledge about the period. For example, the Dauphin's death is mentioned, and then a little while later, people are talking about the Dauphin again, who seems to have come back from the grave. In fact, the second Dauphin was born before the first one's death, but the younger prince's birth is never mentioned in the book--or even his name. If you didn't already know about him, that part would be quite confusing. And there are errors as well--the Tuileries was not burned to the ground, as Davis attests. Napoleon lived in it, for pete's sake. Personally, I'm a big fan of the sort of historical novel that depicts a time period in as much detail as a nonfiction book would, but using the fictional form to infuse emotion and drama into the events.

But this is another sort of book entirely. Once I got over wishing this was a Margaret George book (pick on me if you will, I don't care), I began to enjoy _Versailles_ for what it is: a poetic, experimental novella. Davis uses a series of scenes, tableaux maybe, to show us Antoinette's story. Some are in first-person prose, some in third-person prose, some in the form of a play script, some in poetry. There is even a scene based on a painting that has a certain gruesome connection to the Bourbon rulers. All of the scenes are strung together quite loosely, so that if you don't know anything about the period, you'll be lost. But if you do know some of the history, the scenes do add some color to it. Early in the book, they are funny, saucy, and irreverent. The end of the book, fittingly, takes a somber and haunting tone; I was especially moved by Antoinette's time in prison, her death, and her existence as something other than herself after that. The last sentence of the book is a stunner--I won't give it away.

This book is pretty good, if you think of it as a sort of prose poem about Antoinette rather than a narrative, and if you already know much of her history. Or maybe if you just want to read evocative, beautiful prose.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not a work of history!!, July 25, 2006

By 

Jefferson D. "Jeff" (Charlottesville, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Versailles: A Novel (Paperback)

Compelled by my interest in the French Revolution to read everything and anything about it, I stumbled upon this novel after seeing it mentioned in the Wall Street Journal, I believe. Now Miss Davis is a very creative writer, nothing against her personally, but I was appalled to see the historical liberties taken. The most minimal research was neglected. The way the novel is laid out, in short vignettes, rather reminds me of Vidal's format for her brilliant and very accurate novel "Trianon." I actually felt reminded of "Trianon," while deprived of the masterful character studies, and instead treated to sad, tawdry scenes of Marie-Antoinette's bedroom ordeals. I think it would be enjoyable if approached as poetry. It is amusing to me how so many novels take an introspective approach to Marie-Antoinette, in either a mythical journal or an ongoing examination of conscience, when by all accounts the queen was a lively, extroverted lady, not one for mulling things over. Not badly written, but not very romantic, either. A weak attempt at a historical novel but fine as literature.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A stunning novel, October 30, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Versailles: A Novel (Hardcover)

A friend recommended Versailles, and though I don't usually like historical fiction, I couldn't put this novel down. The writing is poetic and addictive, and Marie Antoinette really comes alive here as a humorous but tragic-- and utterly appealing-- figure. An exploration of everything from royalty to architecture to the soul, this book dazzles and provokes its reader. The language Davis uses is at once precise and ornate and surprising. I plan to read Kathryn Davis' other books next!