I really really wanted to like this book but it just wasn't possible. It was an interesting premise but I just felt like it pandered too much to what the author thought the readers wanted. The story was about Marie Antoinette's affair with Swedish nobleman, Axel von Fersen. The queen was 19 and Fersen was a very haughty, wealthy man who counted the King of Sweden and the King of France as friends. Apparently he had few morals. Not only did he have an affair with the Queen but with numerous married ladies often at the same time. He thought the dauphin was his son but very comfortable with interacting with the king.
There were a lot of stories thrown in that I doubted very seriously. Louis XVI was heavy and apparently warned by the doctor that it would affect his heart. Really? That was a concern back then? And, frankly, the characters are not very sympathetic. This book will not revise your opinion that these were the most clueless people alive. Comte d'Artois owned 365 pairs of shoes. The women's hairdos were so outlandish that many of them would have to stick their heads out of their coaches windows to be able to fit in. Fersen's planned escape for the royal family was so ridiculous that you might think it was made-up if you didn't know better.
There is some purple prose in the book that was slightly offensive. The characters are still unlikable and the writing is just average. I really wouldn't recommend this book