Captivating historical fiction set in eighteenth-century Versailles and Paris during the decades before, during, and after the French Revolution. The researched details about palace life in the years of Louis XV, including among those who were in service to the crown, the innovations in midwifery by Madame du Coudray, and the madness of the Revolution and its fallout breathe life into this moment in time. It is difficult to confront what was factually true -- the child rape and human trafficking -- central to the first part of the novel, in which we meet fourteen-year-old Veronique Roux, one of the "little birds" plucked from poverty to be shined up for their benefactor, who they believe to be a Polish count but is in fact Louis XV. And when she inevitably gets pregnant, she is sent away to give birth and then to be married off to a wealthy merchant, but her daughter, Marie-Louise, is taken from her at birth. The remainder of the novel is focused on Marie-Louise, who eventually comes to live with a midwife, Aunt Margot, who was trained by Madame du Coudray and who passes on her knowledge to many, including Marie-Louise. I found the character of her husband, Pierre Vernault, a bit flat, but others were fleshed out beautifully. ( )

Many other reviewers have summarized this book, so I’ll focus my review elsewhere. This story of the time of the French Revolution is expertly woven around the lives of women who survived throughout it. The women, disadvantaged and advantaged by turns, struggle onwards, gain skills and lose sponsors, are sexually abused (warning, though this is handled quite carefully and though repugnant, was indeed a fact of the time and so appropriate to include), and take mastery.
I particularly enjoyed the fact based plot of the midwives, their training and respectful treatment.
The revolution itself is well-described, the feeling of unease, the shortages, the men shouting hate, the women spreading poisonous gossip. It didn’t seem to have worked out well for anyone. For this reason I recommend this book to US readers who might think revolution is a glorious thing, especially in the current political climate. Be careful what you wish for.
A rewarding read. I’m looking forward to meeting the author. ( )

The year, 1755. Thirteen-year-old Véronique Roux lives in a squalid Paris apartment with her mother, who scratches out a living mending old clothes, and three younger brothers. One day, Maman tells Véronique she’s to go into service for a wealthy nobleman, and just like that, the girl’s shipped off to a splendid home a brief carriage ride from Versailles, where Louis XV holds court. Naturally, her mother receives certain financial considerations.

Told that her patron is a Polish nobleman attached to the court, Véronique is groomed for her upcoming service to him. She’s given plenty to eat; her skin and hair cleansed of lice and treated for various ailments common to poor children; she’s taught penmanship, posture, and comportment; taught to improve her singing and recitation; and, most important, receives instruction, religious and secular, stressing modesty, restraint, and obedience. In other words, qualities foreign to the French monarchy.

Meanwhile, the narrative also recounts life within the palace at Versailles. In particular, we learn how the king, jaded and bored with his caged existence, longs for pleasures to lift his heart (and another part of his anatomy, which seems to rule his moods). He can’t stand dealing with matters of state, which include a war that’s going badly, so he spends as little time on these as possible. How droll.

Rather, everyone close to him, most especially his former mistress and closest advisor, Madame de Pompadour, do their best to divert him with gossip, prop up his flagging ego, and provide tender flesh to interest that other, significant part of him. Practically from the get-go, the reader understands what Véronique doesn’t: what her “service” will entail, and who her patron really is. She’s a bit dense for a Parisian girl, especially a beauty who’s endured advances from strange men and whose mother has all the tenderness of a brick, therefore the embodiment of hard lessons.

Suffice to say that the “Polish nobleman” takes a shine to Véronique, and her subsequent pregnancy gets her expelled from paradise. Her child, Marie-Louise, is taken from her, while Véronique’s packed off to marry some grain merchant.

That I haven’t yet recounted the main premise of the novel tells you the major weakness of The School of Mirrors: The story really picks up steam seventeen years and 175 pages after it begins. Marie-Louise’s life in Paris, apprenticeship to a midwife, and ringside seat at the revolution and its excesses form the core of the book, and I like this part. So do we really need to know, in meticulous detail, how despicable the Bourbon monarchy was under the previous, fifteenth Louis?

Stachniak seems to want to reveal the precise depth of sexual abuse, misogyny, and moral corruption, and what a gruesome, ugly tale it is. I don’t think that justifies its presence, and I suspect that if you began reading at page 175, you’d understand almost everything you need to know to appreciate the novel. Well-chosen back story could have filled in the rest.

The first half of the book does offer a few noteworthy characters. I like the portrayals of the king, his chief procurer, and Madame de Pompadour. The descriptions give a vivid picture of court life — the author knows her ground — though I’d have liked them better had they struck an emotional chord. Some feel merely decorative, static.

But there’s no comparing with the second half of the book, where conflict spins more rapidly, and the revolutionaries turn out to be just as corrupt as the monarchy they toppled, if in their own way. Marie-Louise has more to her than her mother, and the narrative feels more intimate, therefore more compelling.

I wonder whether Stachniak has two novels here; she’s got two stories, certainly. Her desire to connect the two and derive surprise lacks the impact she may have hoped for, but that strategy’s apparently a trend, these days: try to shock the reader, at any cost to narrative flow or plausibility. At least the author doesn’t withhold information the way some do — she’s too generous for that — but I’ve never understood the fascination with connecting multiple disparate narratives. Seldom does it work out as intended in artistic terms, so it must sell books. ( )

When beautiful young Veronique is noticed by King Louis XV's procurer, she is taken from her life of toil and hardship to live in relatively luxury. Pampered and well fed, she is introduced to the "Polish Count," who is really Louis. Louis finds her naivety and youth to be charming and quickly seduces her. When Veronique becomes pregnant, she is no longer of use and is taken away. The book then shifts to her daughter, Marie-Louise's point of view. Marie-Louise is fostered to a couple whose only interest is greed.

The shift from Veronique's point of view to her daughter's point of view was very jolting. I did not enjoy reading from the pov of a young child and found those chapters tedious and hard to get through. I wish the author had focused solely on Veronique and found another way to incorporate Marie-Louise. Due to this criticisms, I would not reread or recommend this book. ( )

It has been a while since I read a novel set in 18th-century France. This one was good overall. It begins in the reign of Louis XV. Véronique Roux is only 14 when she is selected to become a "student" at Deer Park. When she is told that he job will be to please the owner, a Polish Count who is related to the queen, she naively believes she is going to be train as a servant--although her mother, who is well paid to turn her over, knows otherwise. The girls, chosen for their youth, beauty, and pliability, are patronized by the king's mistress, Madame de Pompadour, and are nothing more than sexual fodder for the count--who in actuality is the king himself. Girls who resist are stripped of all gifts and sent back home. But Véronique is eager to please and fancies herself in love with the count. Alas, the end comes for her when she dares to question her master, and her fate is sealed when she finds herself pregnant.

The rest of the novel focuses on her daughter, Marie-Louise, who is sent first to a wet nurse and then to live with guardians on the outer grounds of Versailles. She knows neither her mother nor her father, and her guardians are less than kind. She has only one friend, the lumpy, awkward grandson of the king, the future Louis XVI. When their friendship is discovered, her life is again turned upside down.

I don't like to give too many details, so I will just say that the novel follows Marie-Louise as she acquires a respectable profession and a family of her own, moving into the era of the French Revolution and the repressive Republic that came after. Stachniak creates interesting characters, and the novel takes a number of unexpected turns. She has based her story in part on two real persons, a Polish count and an innovative French midwife, both mentioned in a diary from the period. ( )