Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Marie-Therese, Child of Terror: The Fate of Marie Antoinette's Daughter

PRAISE:

London Review of Books:

"still believing in the divine right of kings, she [Marie-Thérèse] wanted more than anything to see a Bourbon back on the French throne.
  Nagel shows convincingly that this desire animated all Marie-Thérèse's important decisions."


The Washington Times:

"gripping...What a life it was, full of twists and turns...prodigious research, and bolstered by telling quotes from primary and secondary sources...This biography explores this an so much else about her with sensitivity, providing new insights into a misunderstood and tragic figure and showing us the real human buffeted by all those historical crosscurrents."

Daily Express:

"It would be giving too much away to describe Nagel’s investigation into the Dark Countess conundrum. While we all enjoy a good mystery, Nagel’s greater achievement has been to turn the life of a woman one has barely heard of into an utterly compelling biography."