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

by Susan Nagel

Book Overview

Susan Nagel, author of the critically acclaimed biography Mistress of the Elgin Marbles, turns her attention to the life of a remarkable woman who both defined and shaped an era, the tumultuous last... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1596910577
• ISBN13: 9781596910577
• Release Date: March 2008
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Length: 418 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.3" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Marie-Therese, Child of Terror

I loved this book. I have always wondered what happened to Marie Antoinette's daughter, and this really gives you a wonderfully detailed account of her life, and her feelings. Loved it.

An enjoyable read

"Marie-Thérèse: Child of Terror" by Susan Nagel is a greatly anticipated biography which provides an overview of the turbulent life of the courageous daughter of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. Rare anecdotes and little-known incidents are pulled together into one volume to make for a consuming read. I would especially recommend it to the readers of the novel Madame Royale since it fills in many gaps which the novel, being a novel, did not cover. The Duchesse d'Angoulême, who was in looks and personality a total blending of both parents, is portrayed as emerging from a tragic situation to become one of the most powerful women in Europe. The reader shares in her triumphs, in her falls, in her heartbreaks. In most respects, Nagel quotes directly from the various memoirs to produce a highly favorable portrait of the royal family, although their foibles and faults are not ignored. The Revolution is seen mostly from Madame Royale's point of view, and her view is understandably not very benign, since as a young child she was forced to witness bloodshed and social chaos. One by one her immediate family members were led away to die. In the prison she could hear the tormented cries of her little brother but was not allowed to comfort him or visit him when he was sick. Did she hate the Revolution and all symbols of it? Yes. With sensitivity and insight, Nagel does not hesitate to demonstrate how the faith of Marie-Thérèse sustained her through so many sorrows. The books also makes it clear that Marie-Thérèse was dedicated to France in almost the same way as a nun is dedicated to her vows. For Madame Royale, no sacrifice, personal or otherwise, was too great, if it benefited her country. Rising above personal disappointments, Marie-Thérèse led a life rich in love, full of friends and devotion to the poor. I learned a great deal about her friendships with people such as Queen Louise of Prussia, Napoleon's "beautiful enemy," Louise's mother being a childhood friend of Queen Marie-Antoinette's. The Duchesse d' Angoulême's love of simplicity and her ability to relate so well to small children are qualities of which ample evidence is given. Most remarkable was her talent for stealing the show at certain crucial events, when she would appear magnificently dressed, with jewels and plumes that heightened her regal bearing, leaving no doubt in the minds of onlookers that she was the greatest princess of all. Marie-Thérèse's struggles with her memories and sad feelings are explored and might have been explored a little more. The emphasis is on her energy and dynamism, which were certainly outstanding aspects of her character. The search for what happened to her brother and the various pretenders is touched upon, not exhaustively, but then there are other books which deal specifically with those phenomena. Many fascinating details of the life of the Duchesse d'Angoulême are included, most of which are taken from primary sources, and for those aspects I found it a

Outstanding Achievement

Out of the depths of time a life is reborn in the modern world. One very rarely heard anything about Marie-Therese before. A few lines here and there, a portrait in a book on her mother, etc. Nothing much about Marie's life. From the first page to the very end - you become part of the world of Marie-Therese. The author has a very easy flowing unique style that draws you in and hooks you - I really felt as if I had known this person. I absolutely loved this book. I found it so enjoyable to read. I highly recommend it - I don't think anybody could find fault with it (oh, yeah, except for the nit-pickers!). It is well worth it!!!

Gripping Tale of a new Heroine

What a feat! My heart was racing from chapter to chapter, and I absolutely fell in love with Marie-Therese. Her world is drawn here with the forensic care of an Edith Wharton character. Nagel's obsessive research and beautifully detailed writing show Marie-Therese as a strong and credible survivor of the swing from Versailles luxury to tower imprisonment to fading and irrelevant royalty. Who needs pictures? Nagel so strongly evokes MT's loyalty and steadfast belief in a world that was literally decaying around her, I could feel the musty temperature of the rooms. Wow. What an accomplishment.

The story of the valiant princess

In the last decade or so, there seems to be have been an explosion of nonfiction books about the French monarchy, with a special emphasis on Marie-Antoinette. But with all of this focus on Marie-Antoinette, there was one glaring omission that really struck me. Namely, no one was really talking about the one surviving child of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette -- their eldest daughter, Marie-Therese-Charlotte, Madame Royale. Susan Nagel's biography finally gives a full picture to this story of a princess who went through tribulations that only a very few people could have survived. The early chapters deal with information that can be found in most histories about Marie-Antoinette and her marriage at the tender age of fourteen to the rather stolid and unattractive Louis-Auguste, the Dauphin (heir) to the throne of France. Both of them were rather uncertain of themselves, and very naive and didn't know very much about marriage. The result of that the relationship remained unconsummated for more than seven years, and was only resolved with the rather ribald advice of Marie-Antoinette's oldest brother, Emperor Joseph II. And on December 19,1778, there was finally a Child of France born -- but not the son that everyone had been hoping and praying for. Instead, it was a daughter, who was named after her maternal grandmother, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. Both parents were delighted by the arrival of a healthy child, and soon enough both of them were besotted by her. For the little girl, while her life was surrounded by governesses and ceremonial, it was also a world of untold luxury, and within a few years, she had several siblings to share it with. Louis-Joseph would die young, but Louis-Charles, the younger, was a strong, sturdy young boy. Sadly, a fourth child, Sophie, would die in infancy. Surviving paintings show Marie-Therese as a smiling, blonde child with large blue eyes, either gazing up at her mother in adoration, or holding the hand of her little brother. She was also very precocious, headstrong, and wasn't above speaking her mind when she wanted to. She was utterly devoted to her father, and clearly loved her mother, despite some rather unflattering comments. But all of this changed in 1789, when unrest and continuing hardship caused the Parisians to revolt, and caused Louis XVI to grant some concessions and call a national parlement -- unfortunately for him and his family, it would prove to be not quite enough. The king and queen were already suffering from a profound loss: the death of their eldest son, Louis-Joseph, who literally wasted away, and only days later the mob marched on Versailles and demanded that the Royal family move to Paris. For Marie-Therese, just ten years old, it was the begining of a time of trauma and deprevation. The fragile truce between the King and people only lasted two years, when revolutionary forces led by the Duc d'Orleans called for the King to be put on trial -- and the family were imprisoned in the