The Queen's Necklace
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Poor
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Tanning and foxing
Markings: Previous owner
At the glittering, treacherous heart of pre-revolutionary France lies one of history's most sensational scandals — a plot so audacious it helped bring down a queen. The Queen's Necklace chronicles the infamous Affair of the Necklace, a labyrinthine conspiracy involving a priceless diamond jewel, a gullible Cardinal, a cunning Countess, and Marie Antoinette herself, whose reputation was irreparably shattered by an intrigue she never sanctioned. Frances Mossiker masterfully reconstructs the scandal through the voices of its own protagonists, allowing the glittering men and women who were its architects and its victims to speak in their own words, drawing the reader into the salons and shadows of Ancien Régime Paris. Mossiker's meticulous scholarship is matched by her vivid, propulsive prose, transforming a moment of courtly corruption into a sweeping narrative that illuminates the rot at the core of the French monarchy on the eve of its collapse. Rich in period detail and psychological acuity, the work argues that this single jewelled necklace — never worn, never paid for — set in motion a chain of events that hastened the Revolution itself. For anyone captivated by power, deceit, and the fatal vanity of kings, this is essential reading — a reminder that history's most devastating turning points are often hidden in the most unlikely places.
Author: Frances Mossiker
Format: Hardback
Genre: Historical fiction
Condition remarks:
Book: Poor
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Tanning and foxing
Markings: Previous owner
At the glittering, treacherous heart of pre-revolutionary France lies one of history's most sensational scandals — a plot so audacious it helped bring down a queen. The Queen's Necklace chronicles the infamous Affair of the Necklace, a labyrinthine conspiracy involving a priceless diamond jewel, a gullible Cardinal, a cunning Countess, and Marie Antoinette herself, whose reputation was irreparably shattered by an intrigue she never sanctioned. Frances Mossiker masterfully reconstructs the scandal through the voices of its own protagonists, allowing the glittering men and women who were its architects and its victims to speak in their own words, drawing the reader into the salons and shadows of Ancien Régime Paris. Mossiker's meticulous scholarship is matched by her vivid, propulsive prose, transforming a moment of courtly corruption into a sweeping narrative that illuminates the rot at the core of the French monarchy on the eve of its collapse. Rich in period detail and psychological acuity, the work argues that this single jewelled necklace — never worn, never paid for — set in motion a chain of events that hastened the Revolution itself. For anyone captivated by power, deceit, and the fatal vanity of kings, this is essential reading — a reminder that history's most devastating turning points are often hidden in the most unlikely places.