Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
HarperVoyager (2022), 672 pages
Description
1768: Charlotte, daughter of the Habsburg Empress, arrives in Naples to marry a man she has never met. Her sister Antoine is sent to France, and in the mirrored corridors of Versailles they rename her Marie Antoinette. The sisters are alone, but they are not powerless. When they were only children, they discovered a book of spells -- spells that work, with dark and unpredictable consequences. In a time of vicious court politics, of discovery and dizzying change, they use the book to take control of their lives. But every spell requires a sacrifice. And as love between the sisters turns to rivalry, they will send Europe spiralling into revolution.
User reviews
LibraryThing member ladycato
Intimate, devastating, enlightening--this unique literary-feeling historical fantasy covers decades in the lives of two sisters, Charlotte and Antoinette, who were raised to be married and rule alongside their husbands. Antoinette, we all know something about--she becomes Marie-Antoinette, who in
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our history loses her head in the Revolution. Heartfield's retelling of history draws on facts (her highlighted notes on Goodreads are a fantastic read, once your own reading of the book is done) but is brightened by a deep exploration of magic, its power, its sacrifices, its role in the turbulence that shook Europe and the world through that period. This book is alt history at its finest. Show Less
LibraryThing member Strider66
Pros: fascinating period, clever interweaving of magic into history, interesting characters and events
Cons:
After finding their murdered governess’s book of magic, archduchesses Maria Carolina (Charlotte) and Maria Antonia (Marie Antoinette) start teaching themselves spells. They hope this
Carefully following the events of history from 1767 to 1798, the author weaves magic into the story, using it to often explain natural disasters, political upheaval, and personal triumphs and defeats in the womens’ lives.
Magic requires 5 sacrifices, including a personal treasure, a memory, and an emotion (the love of a pet, for example). These sacrifices slowly leach the life and vivacity from the girls and the other practitioners around them. Magic itself varies between simple frivolous spells and truly dangerous spells.
It’s sad seeing how circumstances gradually change the sisters’ relationship with each other. Each one tries to do the best for their country, their family, and themselves, but that ultimately causes discord between them.
The author is kinder to Marie Antoinette and her actions and motivations than history has been. I didn’t know much about Naples or Charlotte’s reign, so I found her part of the story utterly fascinating. It’s clear the author did a lot of research on the people and time.
If you like alternate history and fantasy, this is an enjoyable read.
Cons:
After finding their murdered governess’s book of magic, archduchesses Maria Carolina (Charlotte) and Maria Antonia (Marie Antoinette) start teaching themselves spells. They hope this
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forbidden skill will help them in their upcoming political marriages to King Ferdinand I of Naples and the Dauphin of France respectively. One joins forces with a magical society that wants to control the use of magic, while the other is forced to hide her skill and work with rogues. Dreaming of how they’ll change the world for the better, politics, magic, and the whims of fate propel the sisters into the arms of revolution and a world very different from what they’d hoped to create.Carefully following the events of history from 1767 to 1798, the author weaves magic into the story, using it to often explain natural disasters, political upheaval, and personal triumphs and defeats in the womens’ lives.
Magic requires 5 sacrifices, including a personal treasure, a memory, and an emotion (the love of a pet, for example). These sacrifices slowly leach the life and vivacity from the girls and the other practitioners around them. Magic itself varies between simple frivolous spells and truly dangerous spells.
It’s sad seeing how circumstances gradually change the sisters’ relationship with each other. Each one tries to do the best for their country, their family, and themselves, but that ultimately causes discord between them.
The author is kinder to Marie Antoinette and her actions and motivations than history has been. I didn’t know much about Naples or Charlotte’s reign, so I found her part of the story utterly fascinating. It’s clear the author did a lot of research on the people and time.
If you like alternate history and fantasy, this is an enjoyable read.
Show Less
LibraryThing member AdonisGuilfoyle
Another unnecessarily long read. In fact, by the last 200 pages, I was actually annoyed with how overblown this novel is, because a shorter page count would have served the story better and also because I knew if I even tried to read another book at the same time, I would never have finished such a
The French Revolution and Marie Antoinette are two of my pet historical subjects and I have read many books, fact and fiction, on both. I therefore mistakenly imagined that a book about MA and her sister Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples, albeit with the currently trendy trope of magic thrown in for good measure, would be a pleasure to read. The length of the book, clocking in at nearly 700 pages, was a concern, after recovering from a similarly stretched out novel, but I ploughed on. And on. And on.
The first few chapters, before Charlotte and Antoine's sister Josepha dies and the sisters are married off to Ferdinand of Naples and the Dauphin of France respectively, were deceptively light and entertaining, with the sisters discovering magic in a hidden book of spells belonging to their murdered governess. I usually hate fantasy novels and can't understand the obsession with adding Potter-esque magic to standard historical fiction, but the hidden world of magisters, both official and 'rogue', works well as a metaphor for the French Revolution (the underground Order of 1326, run by noble men, is determined to keep magic from the masses, against the 'rogue' magisters who want to bring power to the people). I also liked Charlotte, Antoine's older sister, who really did rule Naples in the place of her sybaritic husband.
However, magic aside, this is simply a Wikipedia timeline of historical events and personalities made fictional with modern dialogue and attitudes, which might have worked well at half the length but instead stretches and droops like overworked dough. Marie Antoinette is all good intentions and betrayals, plus an unconvincing love affair with Fersen, of course (they first shag in a field close to Versailles, because obviously the Queen would behave like that and nobody would have noticed). And poor Charlotte's actual achievements, including social reforms and the building of a navy, are lost to magic spells and sacrifices of memory and affection: 'Perhaps he would think that all her success was down to magic, to mere trickery. And perhaps he would be right.' Plus, the many, many historical cameos are completely random, like the Montgolfier Brothers, Emma Hart and her interpretive dance, the Chevalier/Chevaliere D'Eon, a transgender soldier and spy, and Jeanne de la Motte, whose attempt to set up Marie Antoinette for her own gain is here bizarrely attributed to one of the Queen's friends in a rambling subplot. There are also clunky sections of exposition where author's frenzied research is shoehorned into the story regardless of character or plot. The author's notes on Goodreads are redundant because the reader can easily tell the difference between history and her version of events.
Did read; still too long. I have another novel about Maria Carolina - Antoinette's Sister - on my wishlist, which I'm hoping will be both shorter and a better tribute!
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bloated fictionalised textbook.The French Revolution and Marie Antoinette are two of my pet historical subjects and I have read many books, fact and fiction, on both. I therefore mistakenly imagined that a book about MA and her sister Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples, albeit with the currently trendy trope of magic thrown in for good measure, would be a pleasure to read. The length of the book, clocking in at nearly 700 pages, was a concern, after recovering from a similarly stretched out novel, but I ploughed on. And on. And on.
The first few chapters, before Charlotte and Antoine's sister Josepha dies and the sisters are married off to Ferdinand of Naples and the Dauphin of France respectively, were deceptively light and entertaining, with the sisters discovering magic in a hidden book of spells belonging to their murdered governess. I usually hate fantasy novels and can't understand the obsession with adding Potter-esque magic to standard historical fiction, but the hidden world of magisters, both official and 'rogue', works well as a metaphor for the French Revolution (the underground Order of 1326, run by noble men, is determined to keep magic from the masses, against the 'rogue' magisters who want to bring power to the people). I also liked Charlotte, Antoine's older sister, who really did rule Naples in the place of her sybaritic husband.
However, magic aside, this is simply a Wikipedia timeline of historical events and personalities made fictional with modern dialogue and attitudes, which might have worked well at half the length but instead stretches and droops like overworked dough. Marie Antoinette is all good intentions and betrayals, plus an unconvincing love affair with Fersen, of course (they first shag in a field close to Versailles, because obviously the Queen would behave like that and nobody would have noticed). And poor Charlotte's actual achievements, including social reforms and the building of a navy, are lost to magic spells and sacrifices of memory and affection: 'Perhaps he would think that all her success was down to magic, to mere trickery. And perhaps he would be right.' Plus, the many, many historical cameos are completely random, like the Montgolfier Brothers, Emma Hart and her interpretive dance, the Chevalier/Chevaliere D'Eon, a transgender soldier and spy, and Jeanne de la Motte, whose attempt to set up Marie Antoinette for her own gain is here bizarrely attributed to one of the Queen's friends in a rambling subplot. There are also clunky sections of exposition where author's frenzied research is shoehorned into the story regardless of character or plot. The author's notes on Goodreads are redundant because the reader can easily tell the difference between history and her version of events.
Did read; still too long. I have another novel about Maria Carolina - Antoinette's Sister - on my wishlist, which I'm hoping will be both shorter and a better tribute!
Show Less
Awards
Prix Aurora Award (Winner — Novel — 2023)
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
672 p.; 9.45 inches
ISBN
0008380597 / 9780008380595
Local notes
A sweeping historical epic with a thread of magic. In a world of vicious court politics in 1768 Naples, Charlotte and Antoine use a book of spells to redefine their lives, becoming the most influential women of the age.
GSFF Book Club, March 2022. Signed by the author with decorative sprayed page edges and exclusive gold design on the case. #220 of 2000.
GSFF Book Club, March 2022. Signed by the author with decorative sprayed page edges and exclusive gold design on the case. #220 of 2000.
Other editions
The Embroidered Book [Waterstones exclusive] by Kate Heartfield (Hardcover)