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The Wardrobe Mistress: A Novel of Marie Antoinette
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It's Giselle Aubry's first time at court in Versailles. At sixteen, she is one of Marie Antoinette's newest undertirewomen, and in awe of the glamorous queen and her opulent palace life. A budding designer, it's a dream come true to work with the beautiful fabrics and jewels in the queen's wardrobe. But every few weeks she returns home to visit her family in the Parisian c
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Paperback, 320 pages
Published
August 15th 2017
by St. Martin's Griffin
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Start your review of The Wardrobe Mistress: A Novel of Marie Antoinette
I am currently working on a novel set during the French Revolution, and so I am deeply immersed in books on the subject. As well as plowing through all the in-depth biographies and histories I can find, I am also reading novels set during the period. The Wardrobe Mistress is a new addition to the oeuvre, by debut author Meghan Masterton.
The book is told in first-person by Giselle Aubry, a young woman who is employed by Marie Antoinette to help look after her sumptuous wardrobe at the royal court ...more
The book is told in first-person by Giselle Aubry, a young woman who is employed by Marie Antoinette to help look after her sumptuous wardrobe at the royal court ...more
I think that writing a book about a woman that worked at the Versailles and got to see firsthand the event's right before the French Revolution and during the revolution was a great idea. Giselle Aubry works as an untertirewoman for Marie Antoinette meant that she could both see how the people rose up against the royal family and at the same time she could also follow how the royal family dealt with it. This is the best part of the book, with Giselle being torn between being loyal to the royal f
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In THE WARDROBE MISTRESS, Masterson deftly captures the tumult of the French Revolution and the tragic unmaking of history’s most infamous queen—Marie Antoinette—through the eyes of clever and likable dressmaker Giselle Aubry. Immersed in scenes of jeweled courtiers, of furtive exchanges between spies, and the palpable danger lurking in every corridor, tavern, and rue à Paris, I grew impatient to return to the book each night. By turns sexy, absorbing, and suspenseful, this story sweeps you alon
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There are many novels written about Marie Antoinette, but this one shines not much explored light on her. She and her husband, Louis XVI, inherit a throne, but none of them is fit to rule. Both lack the political and economic skills, and not too many books explore this aspect, which this book does.
The story starts in 1791 and spans until 1793. It is voiced by a fictional character of Giselle Aubry. She grabs an opportunity to work in the queen’s household as undertirewoman. She dreams about desi ...more
The story starts in 1791 and spans until 1793. It is voiced by a fictional character of Giselle Aubry. She grabs an opportunity to work in the queen’s household as undertirewoman. She dreams about desi ...more
Giselle is a wardrobe assistant in the palace in Versailles attending the glamorous but troubled Marie Antoinette. This book follows about the last two years of Marie Antoinette's life and the events leading up to her death. Through Giselle and her beau Leon, we see the politics and violence as the French Revolution begins. As much as she believes in more rights for the people, Giselle also feels empathy for the Royal Family. Will those conflicting sympathies place her in danger?
The first half o ...more
The first half o ...more
Mar 13, 2021
Amanda Hupe
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2021-reads,
netgalley
Thank you, Netgalley, Meghan Masterson, and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this book!
The Queen’s Dressmaker by Meghan Masterson is a historical romance of the French Revolution. Giselle is now a part of the servants whose job it is to dress Queen Marie Antoinette. The French court is all magnificence and spares no expense. It is Giselle’s job to make Marie Antoinette be the most stylish and beautiful. However, the people of France are starving and Revolution looms near. Giselle’s uncle h ...more
The Queen’s Dressmaker by Meghan Masterson is a historical romance of the French Revolution. Giselle is now a part of the servants whose job it is to dress Queen Marie Antoinette. The French court is all magnificence and spares no expense. It is Giselle’s job to make Marie Antoinette be the most stylish and beautiful. However, the people of France are starving and Revolution looms near. Giselle’s uncle h ...more
Giselle is a wardrobe assistant in the palace in Versailles attending the glamorous but troubled Marie Antoinette. This book follows about the last two years of Marie Antoinette's life and the events leading up to her death. Through Giselle and her beau Leon, we see the politics and violence as the French Revolution begins. As much as she believes in more rights for the people, Giselle also feels empathy for the Royal Family. Will those conflicting sympathies place her in danger?
The first half o ...more
The first half o ...more
3.5 Stars. The French Revolution is one of my favorite time periods to read about, not because I admire the way it went down--quite the opposite--but because it lends itself perfectly to historical fiction and trying to understand what it must have been like to live through such terror and uncertainty. I was drawn to The Wardrobe Mistress particularly for the perspective of a woman in charge of dressing Marie Antoinette.
From a comfortably upper middle-class family, Giselle is thrilled to earn a ...more
From a comfortably upper middle-class family, Giselle is thrilled to earn a ...more
The Wardrobe Mistress is a wonderful new take on what we know about Marie Antoinette, moving us far out of the "Let them eat cake!" territory and enabling the reader to see her as a woman not just reviled by the French people, but as a mother, a caring person, and someone who was caught in terrible circumstances. I adored the narrator, Giselle, an undertirewoman to the queen as she falls in love with Leon, one of the French revolutionaries. I learned so much about the French Revolution and I was
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Detailed, evocative view on the French Rev with a MC torn between politics and personal life.
This book was tough to put down, and it was one of those books where I kept thinking about the characters long after I'd finished. Giselle was a wonderful and resilient heroine, and the author put her in interesting moral conundrums. The politics of the period were vividly portrayed, so that I felt like I was in the middle of Paris during this tumultuous time. I can't wait for Meghan Masterson's next book!
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Unpopular opinion alert!
The characters did not intrigue me in any way . Right off the bat I grew tired of the Marie Antoinette porn - overt descriptions nearly every page on how fragile/delicate/cossetted/modest she is
Giselle too, was not a reliable narrator. Too middle class to be affected by the crushing poverty, too lowly to be actively involved in the royal circle, too unaffecteed(??) to be moved to action by the mob's violence - didn't make for good reading. ...more
The characters did not intrigue me in any way . Right off the bat I grew tired of the Marie Antoinette porn - overt descriptions nearly every page on how fragile/delicate/cossetted/modest she is
Giselle too, was not a reliable narrator. Too middle class to be affected by the crushing poverty, too lowly to be actively involved in the royal circle, too unaffecteed(??) to be moved to action by the mob's violence - didn't make for good reading. ...more
In my day, you could just read Norah Lofts novels about Tragic Queens, but now, the genre inserts a teenaged commoner as narrator (in this case, a niece of Beaumarchais) and gives her a prole boyfriend who offers a lot of mansplainy exposition, allowing the protagonist to both have sympathy for Marie Antoinette as well as understand the injustice of the ancien regime.
The French Revolution is a well known part of history: the decadence of the French royal court, the downtrodden lower class, and a revolutionary movement that would change the entire government of France. However, it is very rare to find an impartial commentary on the French Revolution, historians tend to side with the side of the revolutionaries. We have even adopted the period into our slang: the term "Bougie" is a reference to the word bourgeois, or middle class: a person who is from money, o
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Masterson is masterful at historical fiction! That's to say, I highly enjoyed this novel. The author did a wonderful job blending historical fact and nuances within the fictional life of Giselle. And as someone who has been fascinated with Marie Antoinette's younger years, I loved this look into the queen's later years after she's become a mother, along with her final days. There are historical novels where you know the outcome, but you read with high expectations of the author's storytelling. T
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2.5 stars. Entertaining, but could have been so much better. I enjoyed seeing both sides in the book, royal and revolutionary. Unfortunately, the story and characters lack depth and personality. Several fictional things and events are just too implausible and the ending seems abrupt and not well thought-out.
I am extremely happy that I won this book in a giveaway! I love historical fiction and I am fascinated with Marie Antoinette. I can't wait to read it and I will update my review once I receive it.
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DNF 27%.
Too YA, too many unlikely and unbelievable plot devices with undeveloped characters. The unlikely events have made this too annoying to spend my time on.
Too YA, too many unlikely and unbelievable plot devices with undeveloped characters. The unlikely events have made this too annoying to spend my time on.
Described as a book on Marie Antoinette, that is not quite right. The book is so much more. It details the life and times of a woman who worked for the Queen before the Revolution, her life during and finishes with the death of Marie Antoinette. As such, it is descriptive of the time of the Revolution and the life and time of Parisians particularly at the time.
It was a turbulent time and Marie Antoinette did not help herself at all by her behaviour. Her reserve was put down to arrogance, she wa ...more
It was a turbulent time and Marie Antoinette did not help herself at all by her behaviour. Her reserve was put down to arrogance, she wa ...more
3.5 stars.
I enjoyed this one. It was fast-paced, and a nice break from the multiple 500-700 paged tomes I have also sitting and waiting on my bedside table to be read. I also found Giselle to be likeable, and her position allows Masterson to explore both sides of the early French Revolution - the revolutionary side, and that of the royalists. Masterson herself is also a great writer, portraying the more bloodier side of the revolution really well, and I look forward to reading any other novels s ...more
I enjoyed this one. It was fast-paced, and a nice break from the multiple 500-700 paged tomes I have also sitting and waiting on my bedside table to be read. I also found Giselle to be likeable, and her position allows Masterson to explore both sides of the early French Revolution - the revolutionary side, and that of the royalists. Masterson herself is also a great writer, portraying the more bloodier side of the revolution really well, and I look forward to reading any other novels s ...more
Marie Antoinette is one of my favorite personages in history, even though she endured a sad life and sadder ending.
The book, "The Wardrobe Mistress" is a great one because it focuses on the fictional character of Giselle, a young girl with a talent for dress making who luckily obtains a position working for Marie Antoinette at Versaille in 1789. Giselle enjoys only a slight attachment to the Queen, but follows her activity, and more importantly, the political movement in France, mostly in Paris ...more
The book, "The Wardrobe Mistress" is a great one because it focuses on the fictional character of Giselle, a young girl with a talent for dress making who luckily obtains a position working for Marie Antoinette at Versaille in 1789. Giselle enjoys only a slight attachment to the Queen, but follows her activity, and more importantly, the political movement in France, mostly in Paris ...more
I'd give this novel 4 1/2 stars if I was able. I found the story fast-paced and extremely well-written. I finished the whole thing in less than 24 hours. Because the Queen is older at this point in time, her demeanor is more subdued, which I believe is an accurate display of her character. Giselle and Leon are likable and relatable characters, too. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to more from this author!
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Step inside Versailles during the French Revolution and get a taste of what life was like not only for the royals, but for those serving them and those outside the castle walls outside in this wonderfully written work of historical fiction. Giselle Aubry has the rare opportunity to be able to be on both sides of the fight and struggles with her loyalty to her queen and that of her family and friends. I felt Giselle grow before my eyes through her actions and experiences in a time of complete unr
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4 stars
I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley and St Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review.
The Wardrobe Mistress is told from the viewpoint of a sixteen year old Giselle Aubry, an undertirewoman to Marie Antoinette and a budding dress designer herself. Due to her position working for the Queen, she is in a position to see both sides of the political conflicts and unraveling revolutionary movement in Paris. When her Uncle Pierre asks her to spy on the Queen, she readily agrees, wa ...more
I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley and St Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review.
The Wardrobe Mistress is told from the viewpoint of a sixteen year old Giselle Aubry, an undertirewoman to Marie Antoinette and a budding dress designer herself. Due to her position working for the Queen, she is in a position to see both sides of the political conflicts and unraveling revolutionary movement in Paris. When her Uncle Pierre asks her to spy on the Queen, she readily agrees, wa ...more
Thank you to Sarah Hardy and Bookouture for inviting me to take part in the book tour for The Queen's Dressmaker and giving me a free copy in return for an honest review.
Giselle is Marie Antoinette's newest under-tirewomen, looking after the Queen's wardrobe. However, revolution has come to France, and the violent protests are becoming more and more widespread across the country. On a visit home to her family in Paris, Giselle experiences one of these riots first-hand. Fortunately, Léon comes to ...more
Giselle is Marie Antoinette's newest under-tirewomen, looking after the Queen's wardrobe. However, revolution has come to France, and the violent protests are becoming more and more widespread across the country. On a visit home to her family in Paris, Giselle experiences one of these riots first-hand. Fortunately, Léon comes to ...more
Mar 19, 2021
Page~Turners ~Book Reviews by Caroline~
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
This is the first novel I have read by this author and I enjoyed it very much. I really liked her writing style and the characters were well developed.
Her whole life, Giselle dreamed of making beautiful dresses, but never did she dream of being chosen to attend to the elegant, queen of France, Marie Antoinette. Giselle has to make sure that the queen is never outshined by those who attends the elegant parties at the castle. But, as the friendship develops between the queen and Giselle, the battl ...more
Her whole life, Giselle dreamed of making beautiful dresses, but never did she dream of being chosen to attend to the elegant, queen of France, Marie Antoinette. Giselle has to make sure that the queen is never outshined by those who attends the elegant parties at the castle. But, as the friendship develops between the queen and Giselle, the battl ...more
May 17, 2021
Sarah Loves Books, Books and More Books
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
netgalley
I absolutely love to read any book which has anything at all to do with the French Revolution and this sounded intriguing when I saw it on Netgalley. There was a little too much romance for my liking and it felt very YA in places but on the whole I enjoyed this story and it gave me a different perspective on Marie Antoinette.
The main character Giselle works as a dresser/wardrobe assistant to the hated French Queen but feels sympathetic towards her however she also sympathizes with the cause of ...more
The main character Giselle works as a dresser/wardrobe assistant to the hated French Queen but feels sympathetic towards her however she also sympathizes with the cause of ...more
This book was very interesting. It was very politically motivated, with a bit of romance on the side. It tends to be a little dry, but does follow one of the most politically interesting times in French history. This book takes a very unique perspective of the French Revolution. If you are a fan of historical fiction, you will likely enjoy this book.
The Wardrobe Mistress is a bit of a coming of age story. It is in first person, written from the perspective of the heroine, Giselle. Her story, wh ...more
The Wardrobe Mistress is a bit of a coming of age story. It is in first person, written from the perspective of the heroine, Giselle. Her story, wh ...more
You will enjoy this light historical fiction set during the French Revolution if you like alternative viewpoints at the center of the action. In this case, Giselle, a 16 year old seamstress has the catbird seat. She's caught in some ways between her family and the Royal family- and both have their foibles, positives, and negatives (do not forget that Marie Antoinette and the rest were human beings after all.). Masterson has done a really nice job of capturing the period, as well as your attentio
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Set during a fascinating period of French history, this novel explores the time just before the overthrow of the reign of Louis and Marie Antoinette. Both the Monarchist and the Republican viewpoints are explored through Giselle, the Queen's dressmaker and Leon, who thinks there is no place for a Monarchy.
I enjoyed the descriptions of the Court and the clothes of the period. It brought the events very much to life and although the story is that of Giselle, I would have loved to get deeper inside ...more
I enjoyed the descriptions of the Court and the clothes of the period. It brought the events very much to life and although the story is that of Giselle, I would have loved to get deeper inside ...more
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Meghan Masterson graduated from the University of Calgary with an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Communications Studies, and has worked several unrelated jobs while writing on the side. When not writing, Meghan can often be found reading at all hours (even at breakfast), practicing archery and roaming through the woods with her dog.
Meghan is represented by Carrie Pestritto of Laura Dail Literary Agen ...more
Meghan is represented by Carrie Pestritto of Laura Dail Literary Agen ...more
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“I turn away from the smell of death, pressing my lavender scented handkerchief as tight as I can against my nose.”
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“There must be no repercussions to this,” says Marie Antoinette. Her quiet voice slides through the room like the whisper of a steel blade.”
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