Will BashorReseñas

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: A historical novel inspired by real events, The Bastard Prince of Versailles narrates the escapades of a misborn "prince" during the reign of Louis XIV in seventeenth-century France.

Louis de Bourbon wasn't a real prince—even though his father was King Louis XIV. The illegitimate son of the King and his mistress, Louise de La Vallière, young Louis has been kept far from the court's eyes until summoned to bid adieu to his mother. To atone for her adultery, she joins a convent, abandoning Louis to an uncertain future.

When Louis is humiliated by his father for his role in a secret gay society, he struggles to redeem himself through heroism and self-sacrifice in the king's army on the battlefield.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: What surprised me most about this read was that it is based on fact. I was unaware of the existence of the bastard son of the Sun King. I was more surprised still that there was a gay demimonde at this intolerant, aggressively cishet jerk's court. The last jaw-dropper for me was the way the author treated the subject of "gayness" in a time when that identity had not been invented. While being honest and true to the historical record, Author Bashor allows us twenty-first century snowflakes to feel connected to, and hopeful for, the sodomitical young bastard prince.

History buffs, as much as historical-fiction fans, will find much to enjoy in this evocation of a brutal, glamourous past. The gay themes should be a draw, not a bar, as the light the author sheds on the subject is welcome indeed...even if the life it illuminates is very, very saddening to modern eyes.½

I thought this was very well done. It provides first hand accounts of her final days. The research is meticulously done and well presented. I look forward to seeing more from this author.

This is one of those books that I would have preferred to have read as an actual book because of the numerous footnotes, diagrams,and acknowledgements which are so much easier to read. together with the text, in a book rather than an ebook. (Well on my tablet anyway).
This is the story of the seventy-six days imprisonment of Marie Antoinette, her last 76 days. It looks well researched, and an interesting and easy read.
A NetGalley Book

Since I previously read Will Bashor's previous two books on Marie Antoinette, I jumped at the chance to receive his latest book on her. It did not disappoint. The book begins with a brief history of the palace at Versailles and the previous kings, who lived there. We learn about how it began as a hunting lodge for Henri IV. Later, his son Louis XIII turned it into a place for him to meet his lovers. From Louis XIII to Louis XV it remained as a place for lovers of the king, alternating between male and female lovers. Venereal diseases were rampant among the French population. This plays a major part in the story.
When Louis XVI married Marie Antoinette, the marriage was not consummated for 7 years. With the marriage, the author turns his attention to Marie Antoinette. Louis XVI gave Petit Trianon, the former domain of various Kings' mistresses, to Marie Antoinette. He was not allowed to visit without the permission of his wife. We learn of how she spent her time during this long wait of 7 years, playing cards, play acting and spending time with various people, male and female, who may or may not have been her lovers. The author asks us to draw our own conclusions.
Certain parts of the book were very interesting. The fan had a language all its own., used to convey messages between potential lovers. Not only did different positions of the fan have their own meaning, but fans had a practical use, to pass objects to the sovereign as well as to cover up bad breath and rotten teeth!
What was most unusual in the book, was how the author placed chapters into sections, each marking a period of time in the life of Marie Antoinette. At the end of each section, he devotes a chapter to analyzing Marie Antoinette's hand writing at this point in her life. From how she writes, she reveals her character. I am not familiar with the science of handwriting analysis, so I can not attest to how accurate the observations are.
This book is a good addition to any library on Marie Antoinette.

For a long while I simply didn't understand why French Revolution was so popular and why the monarchs, Marie Antoinette in particular, inspired novels and stories in historical fiction (similar to how Tudors and Regency stories dominate historical fiction as well as romance) but after reading this book, I finally understand why the story is so popular, and why even today we see Marie Antoinette more as a victim rather than a perpetrator, and why so many people were inspired to help her and her family during the darkest days. Granted the glitter and glamour are far more attractive to readers, but the real self, I believe, emerges in the darkest of times, which is what the author has shown in the book through research and storytelling. I know the result, what happened to Marie Antoinette, but despite that, I hoped for the best for her and her family, and perhaps its through these dark times that Marie Antoinette became a tragic heroine.

In a follow-up to his award winning "Marie Antoinette's Head: The Royal Hairdresser, The Queen, and the Revolution" Will Bashor continues Marie Antoinette's story with an equally well researched "Marie Antoinette's Darkest Days: Prisoner No. 280 in the Conciergerie". I did know about the unsuccessful attempt to save the French Royal family by Swedish Count Hans Axel von Fersen. But Will Bashor tells about various other attempts to free Marie Antoinette, all equally unsuccessful. We learn of the terrible conditions in the cell, where she was kept, the cold, the damp and the vermin, how her health was deteriorating from quite probably cancer of the uterus, how the jailer and his wife took pity on her and tried to improve her health with special food, even fruits and vegetables donated by market vendors, who were sympathetic to the Royal family.
What I found especially interesting was his research into the backgrounds of all members of the jury, who convicted her and the trial transcripts themselves. Since we often see portraits of this doomed queen, when she was dressed in white wigs, we tend to forget, that she was only 37, when her life was ended by the guillotine. Even Napoleon considered her death to be more terrible than regicide.

Book received from NetGalley

Oh my, poor Marie Antoinette. I have read a few books on this French Queen, but they mostly focus on her childhood and time as co-ruler of France. I had some idea that her captivity leading up to her execution was horrifying, but I never knew exactly how bad. This book's research was phenomenal, looking into a part of French history most know of but know little about. I recommend this for anyone who enjoys the history of that era or area.

This book is an in-depth account of the two and a half months Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France, spent in the Conciergerie Prison before her trial and execution on October 16th, 1793. The book is meant for those who already possess a passing familiarity with Marie Antoinette’s life; events prior to her imprisonment are handled sparingly–Bashor focuses almost entirely on her imprisonment, trial, execution, and the aftermath.

On August 1st, 1793, Marie Antoinette was removed from the Temple prison, where she had been kept prisoner with her family for nearly a year, to the Conciergerie, a dank prison where those awaiting the guillotine were kept. Marie Antoinette was separated from her children and sister-in-law (King Louis XVI was dead by this point) and sent into solitary confinement. Her new prison was built below the level of the Seine, so the damp rotted everything within, and rains would cause water to run down the walls. Despite several rescue attempts, the “Widow Capet” stayed there until October 16th, when she was brought to trial and ultimately beheaded.

Marie Antoinette Darkest Days Will Bashor.jpg
Tuckerby the papillon helping with pictures. Thisbe, Marie Antoinette’s dog, has long been rumored to have been a papillon.

The book is exhaustively researched, and Bashor sources first person accounts for much of his writing. We are also provided with the transcripts of Marie Antoinette’s trial (translated from the French by the author), which allows the reader to step into the spectacle and hear the queen’s words and those of her prosecutors. Bashor’s downfall is in repetition: several key events during this period are told from several points of views (or, occasionally, reiterated later in the text) and at each point the wording of the event is identical. While the use of first person accounts is of course desirable and preferable, using the same phrasing from one source, when the incident is being described multiple times, becomes rather vexing for the reader. Additionally, the trial transcripts, while fascinating, are naturally a bit long-winded. One wonders if Bashor could have played with the formatting (gone with dialogue-style prose, rather than keeping the transcript format) without compromising the academic merits of the book.

In all, this is a scholarly book and should be approached as such. Bashor has assembled a great deal of information for his depiction of Marie Antoinette’s final days. History buffs will appreciate his attention to detail.

An advance ebook was provided by the publisher via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. Marie Antoinette’s Darkest Days will be available for purchase on December 1st, 2016.

Prisoner No. 280 in the Conciergerie

This unique account of an intriguing period of history is meticulously researched to give us the most accurate version of the events and is so cleverly crafted it manages to read like a novel. Drawing from records Mr. Basher has captured what Marie-Antoinette may have endured during the two and half month imprisonment prior to her execution.

The book begins on the 2nd of august 1793 the Marie- Antoinette was escorted from the temple to the Conciergerie, known as the “waiting room for the guillotine”. The depiction of this horrible place is felt throughout the Queen’s ordeal: worm infested straw mattress, acrid and musty smell, filthy environment where rats loved to nibble on you (just to name some discomfort). The perilous situation Marie-Antoinette found herself is brilliantly and vividly captured with images, drawing and supportive footnotes. There were failed plans to rescue her with terrible consequences for those who attempted. Even kindness towards her was a death warrant.

The Reign of Terror is a fascinating period in history. Mr. Bashor relates in details the Queen’s daily life of confinement from her elongated stay in the infamous waiting room of the guillotine, to her trial and the fatal tumbril ride through the streets that ended on the scaffold. She was well surrounded with thousands of people some innocent and some not too much facing the public executioner and the “National Razor”.

Thank you to Rowan & Littlefield and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Marie Antoinette's Darkest Days: Prisoner No. 280 in the Conciergerie by Will Bashor is a frightening read. Yes, we all know that she was imprisoned for a few years during the revolution but it was her last 76 days when she was put in the Conciergerie, a real dungeon. Cold, damp, dirty, vermin scurrying across the floor and the bed, gnawing her at night, and always the eyes of her prisoner. Her clothes were tattered. It doesn't seem to be that she was such a threat that she deserved this punishment. In the end she guillotined anyway. A story to chill you. Well worth a detour.

First of all, Marie Antoinette's Head isn't really about hair.

Second of all, I'm pretty sure Will Bashor just taught me more about the French Revolution in 200-some pages than I learned in all the history classes I've ever taken.

Marie Antoinette's Head stands in stark contrast to most history books. When I think of books on the French Revolution, I think of those huge dusty books from the back room of the library that I had to read in eleventh grade English class to write research papers. I remember falling asleep after every couple pages because they were written so dryly and so impersonally that I couldn't bring myself to care about whatever king or queen I was writing about that month.

In Marie Antoinette's Head, Will Bashor not only managed to keep my attention, but he made me forget that I was learning! The book reads more like well-written historical fiction than non-fiction. The characters jumped off the page and came to life. And although I knew what the end result had to be, I felt so connected to Marie Antoinette and Léonard that my heart was pounding and I was devouring the book, hoping that she'd somehow find a way out of the mess she'd gotten herself into. I hoped that Léonard would finally get what he deserved, what he'd been promised... though I knew he wouldn't.

If you're at all interested in history, in Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution, or, yes, even hair... read this book.

Thank you to Will Bashor for the ARC!

This is the story of Marie Antoinette's personal hairdresser and the French Revolution from his unique perspective. Leonard Auntie first walked into Paris with a beautiful shell comb in his pocket and not much else. This comb was his creative tool for bringing to life many magnificent and extravagant coiffures, a gaudy hairstyle the nobility of France went nuts over. As in the cover art, these hairstyles were extremely decorated and lavishly adorned with all types of amazing fabrics and jewels, sparing no expense. He started by decorating the heads of actresses in the theater and, with entrepreneurial spirit and artistic fervor, worked his way into the queen's good graces, enjoying more privileges over time and establishing both a school of hairdressing and also his own successful theater. He ultimately became a spawn for the royal family during the revolution. Sadly, after the revolutionary fires had chilled and he was able to return to France, Leonard was never fully repaid or shown the gratitude he so richly deserved. This is the story of a man with a very resilient spirit, though, who remained loyal and true to the crown until the very end of his life.

Exhaustively researched with references to Leonard's own memoirs, beautifully illustrated with breathtaking (and humorous to the modern eye) pictures of Leonard's masterpiece coiffures and with a catchy title that first sparks the reader's imagination, this book adds new perspective to the time of Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution. I highly recommend it for anyone who finds this colorful time in history interesting and wants to broaden their understanding of the people and the time.