151 ratings | 83 reviews | avg rating:4.75

Elena's Bookshelves

read (150)
currently-reading (0)
to-read (1)

Elena’s Friends (276)

Christopher

1,215 books | 49 friends

S.R. (Sarah) Mallery

107 books | 918 friends

Michele Piccini

31,173 books | 2,934 friends

Sharon Desruisseaux

1,342 books | 229 friends

Michael

872 books | 5,015 friends

Roy Huff

11,166 books | 5,202 friends

Brittany Cormier

83 books | 37 friends

Marie

1,469 books | 436 friends

More friends…

Elena is following 8 people

Elena Maria Vidal

Goodreads author profile

url

https://www.goodreads.com/ElenaMariaVidal

born

in Florence, Oregon, The United States

gender

female

website

http://www.emvidal.com

twitter username

emvidal

genre

Historical Fiction, History, Literature & Fiction

influences

Jane Austen, J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert Hugh Benson, Caryll Houselander

member since

March 2008

About this author

edit data

Elena Maria Vidal grew up in the countryside outside of Frederick, Maryland, "fair as the garden of the Lord" as the poet Whittier said of it. As a child she read so many books that her mother had to put restrictions on her hours of reading. During her teenage years, she spent a great deal of her free time writing stories and short novels.

Elena graduated in 1984 from Hood College in Frederick with a BA in Psychology, and in 1985 from the State University of New York at Albany with an MA in Modern European History. In 1986, she joined the Secular Order of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Elena taught at the Frederick Visitation Academy and worked as a private tutor as well as teaching children's etiquette classes. During a trip to Austria in 1995 she...more Elena Maria Vidal grew up in the countryside outside of Frederick, Maryland, "fair as the garden of the Lord" as the poet Whittier said of it. As a child she read so many books that her mother had to put restrictions on her hours of reading. During her teenage years, she spent a great deal of her free time writing stories and short novels.

Elena graduated in 1984 from Hood College in Frederick with a BA in Psychology, and in 1985 from the State University of New York at Albany with an MA in Modern European History. In 1986, she joined the Secular Order of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Elena taught at the Frederick Visitation Academy and worked as a private tutor as well as teaching children's etiquette classes. During a trip to Austria in 1995 she visited the tomb of Empress Maria Theresa in the Capuchin crypt in Vienna. Afterwords she decided to finish a novel about Marie-Antoinette she had started writing ten years before but had put aside. In 1997 her first historical novel TRIANON was published by St. Michaels Press. In 2000, the sequel MADAME ROYALE was published, as well as the second edition of TRIANON, by The Neumann Press. Both books quickly found an international following which continues to this day. In 2010, the third edition of TRIANON and the second edition of MADAME ROYALE were released.

In November 2009, THE NIGHT'S DARK SHADE: A NOVEL OF THE CATHARS was published by Mayapple Books. The new historical novel deals with the controversial Albigensian Crusade in thirteenth century France. Elena has been a contributor to Canticle Magazine, Touchstone Magazine, The National Observer, and The American Conservative. In April 2009 she was a speaker at the Eucharistic Convention in Auckland, New Zealand. In August 2010 Elena spoke at The Catholc Writers Conference in Valley Forge, PA. She is a member of the Catholic Writers Guild and the Eastern Shore Writers Association. She currently lives in Maryland with her family and is working on a historical novel about her Irish ancestors. Elena blogs at http://teaattrianon.blogspot.com/.(less)

2645 posts
Elena Maria Vidal's Blog

Allegory of Madame la Dauphine

Here is the frontispiece for the catalog of books of the library of the new Dauphine Marie Antoinette from the year 1770. (Via tiny-librarian) It looks like the princess is being welcome by three goddesses (perhaps the three Graces) and the winged Victory. Above I see Apollo's chariot with a winged deity (Mercury? Apollo?) swooping down. (Click on image for a better view.) Read more of this blog post »

View more on Elena Maria Vidal's website »

0 comments

• 1 like · like •

Published on May 22, 2013 23:00 • 2 views

View all 2645 posts »

combine editions
Elena Maria Vidal's Books

Average rating: 4.27 · 99 ratings · 21 reviews · 3 distinct works · Similar authors

	Trianon: A Novel of Royal France 4.23 of 5 stars 4.23 avg rating — 44 ratings — published 1997 — 4 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Madame Royale 4.32 of 5 stars 4.32 avg rating — 31 ratings — published 2000 — 3 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Night’s Dark Shade: A Novel of the Cathars 4.29 of 5 stars 4.29 avg rating — 24 ratings — published 2009 — 4 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

Upcoming Events

No scheduled events. Add an event.

Elena’s Writing

Ghosts of the Tred Avon (Literature & Fiction)

1 chapters — updated Mar 29, 2011 04:33pm

Description: The musings of a woman in a stale season of life, reflecting on what she has lost, and what makes it all worthwhile.

rss
Elena's Recent Updates

Elena Maria Vidal wrote a new blog post A Mother's Fear and Pain Please visit the new blog called Before Vaccines. To quote:Sitting by her son’s hospital bed, Meleese worried and hoped. The doctor came and checke... Read more of this blog post »
2 hours, 26 min ago · 1 like · like
Elena liked booklady's review of The Eternal Woman: The Timeless Meaning of the Feminine: " In the forward to the 1954 edition of Gertrude von le Fort’s classic work on the timeless meaning of the feminine, we are told this work was first published in Germany in 1934. As Hitler was beginning his meteoric rise to power which would change... " Read more of this review »
May 21, 2013 04:36am · see review
Elena rated a book 5 of 5 stars The Chalice by Nancy Bilyeau (Goodreads Author) read in April, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Those who enjoyed Nancy Bilyeau's debut historical novel The Crown will find its sequel The Chalice even more heart-wrenching and suspenseful. Once again we follow the adventures of former Dominican novice Joanna Stafford as she is torn from her peac...more
Apr 28, 2013 01:16pm · see review
Elena rated a book 4 of 5 stars Paris: A Love Story by Kati Marton read in April, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
"I hope that my readers will also draw comfort from the fact that there are other lives beyond the one that one loses." ~ Kati Marton, NPR interview "Paris: A Love Story" was a book that was interesting to me because there was a great deal about Par...more
Apr 26, 2013 05:37am · see review
Elena made a comment on her review of Marie-Therese, Child of Terror: The Fate of Marie Antoinette's Daughter "I am the author. My name is Elena Maria Vidal. Thank you for asking! ;-)"
Apr 19, 2013 01:15pm · see review
Elena made a comment on Anti-Semitism Among Catholics "Fr. Angelo is NOT saying Our recent Popes are antisemitic. He is saying that there are traditional Catholics from Argentina who deny the Holocaust. Pl...more "
Apr 11, 2013 04:58am · see blog post
Elena rated a book 3 of 5 stars The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom by Candida Moss read in March, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
"Te Martyrum candidatus laudat exercitus." ~from the Te Deum When I wrote to Dr. Moss requesting her latest work The Myth of Persecution, I received a prompt and gracious reply assuring me of a copy. Dr. Moss hoped that I would not see the book as an...more
Mar 25, 2013 12:06pm · see review
Elena made a comment on her review of Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire "I agree and thank you for the kind words."
Mar 21, 2013 12:22pm · see review
Elena rated a book 5 of 5 stars All Standing: The True Story of Hunger, Rebellion, and Survival by Kathryn Miles (Goodreads Author)	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 17, 2013 11:46am
Elena rated a book 4 of 5 stars The Chieftain (Return of the Highlanders, #4) by Margaret Mallory (Goodreads Author)	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 04, 2013 03:18pm

More of Elena's books…

Quotes Elena Likes

“Hear me, ye divine offspring, and bud forth as the rose planted by the brooks of waters. Give ye a sweet odor as frankincense. Send forth flowers, as the lily...and bring forth leaves in grace, and praise with canticles, and bless the Lord in his works.”
― Anonymous, Holy Bible: New International Version

2 people liked it

“If I know a song of Africa, of the giraffe and the African new moon lying on her back, of the plows in the fields and the sweaty faces of the coffee pickers, does Africa know a song of me? Will the air over the plain quiver with a color that I have had on, or the children invent a game in which my name is, or the full moon throw a shadow over the gravel of the drive that was like me, or will the eagles of the Ngong Hills look out for me?”
― Karen Blixen

tags: africa

72 people liked it

“Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

tags: love

7,206 people liked it