The Dark Tower

Beneath the Crown #2

by Sharon Stewart

The first book in a new series that picks up where the Royal Diaries left off! Previously published as The Dark Tower, this riveting novel is written as the diary of Princess Marie Thérèse Charlotte of France, daughter of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, who was imprisoned during the French Revolution. One by one her parents and her brother were taken from her - Louis and Marie Antoinette beheaded, her brother dead of neglect.Though she lost everything, Mousseline, as she was called,was determined to be as brave and honourable as she could be during a time of tragedy and upheaval. A gripping story about a real princess that history nearly forgot! Shortlisted for both the Red Cedar Award and the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction when it was published in 1998, this is the first book in a new series from Scholastic which will feature royal-themed books in a format made popular by the Dear Canada and Royal Diaries series.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Fiction, Historical, Royalty, Childrens, Middle Grade

Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

I grew up and was educated in Vancouver, British Columbia. I am a writer and editor, and spent most of my career in educational publishing. I have lived in Spain and also in China, where I taught English as a second language, and have published articles about my experiences in China in newspapers across Canada. I am the author of nine novels, several of them historical fiction. I have also published a book of short stories and biographies of Louis Riel and Norman Bethune. I currently live in Toronto, Canada.

Reviews

[Basil · Rating 4 out of 5]

listen...eight year old me thought this book was the absolute sh!t !! I read it probably around 10 times and it made me absolutely obsessed with the French Revolution. I read others in this series but this one was my favourite, one, hands down. Is it even good? I haven't read it since probably 2008 so I couldn't tell you. Also, I got it from a Scholastic Book Fair which makes the nostalgia that much more potent. Also, the woman's face on this cover looks weirdly altered and almost in the uncanny valley, but I do remember like, stroking her face before sleeping at night. Sometimes I slept with this book IN MY BED, under my pillow. I'm not saying this book made me gay but it didn't make me _not_ gay, so there's that. Do you like unhappy endings? Murder? Beheading? Rioting on the streets of France? Descriptions of Versailles and other significant French buildings? Strong female friendships? Get ready to read a VERY dark book aimed at middle-grade children!

[kingshearte · Rating 3 out of 5]

For reasons I'm not sure I can explain, I find myself somewhat fascinated by the French Revolution. Maybe it's the interesting contrast between a conflict that makes sense, but still has a lot of grey areas in terms of who's in the right. Many conflicts have grey areas, it's true, but they're frequently based on religion or similar, so the reasons for the intense hatred and killing don't make a lot of sense to me. Then there are conflicts that make sense, because people are being deliberately and knowingly oppressed, but they're frequently somewhat less grey. The French Revolution, by contrast, happened for very clear reasons, but there's still a lot of moral ambiguity surrounding it. As I mentioned in my review for The Scarlet Pimpernel, I fully understand why the French populace revolted. Their situation was abominable. But I can't help but feel for the royalty and aristocracy as well. This was the way life has been for many years, and I suspect that many of them truly didn't understand just how bad it was for those not fortunate enough to be in their class. True, if they'd ever deigned to look, they might have seen, and the reason they never looked was because those people were beneath their notice, and that's a terrible way of looking at life. But it's all they knew. Does that make them innocent of all the suffering? No. There's something very wrong about flaunting how much you have when people around you have nothing. One would hope that the monarchy would see what was going on, at least, and modify their habits accordingly, in hopes that the rest of the court would do the same, and there is some evidence that Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette did, but the awareness came too late to save them.

Furthermore, the Revolution really got out of hand. We know it now, and people knew it then, and many people got themselves caught up in the vicious bloodthirst for saying so at the time. The Revolution was supposed to be about equality and justice for all, not simply killing off anyone who was too blue-blooded, as well as anyone who pointed out that this was not the point of the exercise.

Anyway, we all know the basic history of the French Revolution, I'm sure, and I'm hardly the first or most eloquent to discuss what was wrong with it, but suffice it to say that, as I mentioned, I find the whole thing very interesting.

This book, I picked up because I thought it was an interesting perspective on the story. Usually we hear about it from the people's point of view, or even occasionally, with the king and queen as the main focus, but still as king and queen, not really as people. This book was told from the perspective of their daughter, and it very much humanized these historical figures. Louis and Antoinette were not just royalty, they were people, parents. When they were hauled off and beheaded, those were real people killed, with real families they left behind, alone and terrified. It's rare that we stop to think of the children of these people, imprisoned with them, barely aware of anything going on in the world outside, having their parents ripped from them and murdered, left to wonder what will become of them. And it is particularly sad, because these children would have had even less idea what was going on with the people than their parents would have. So a situation that is completely beyond their knowledge and control ends up leading to their imprisonment, torture and neglect (at least in the case of Charles, the heir), and being robbed of their freedom and families, and that's incredibly sad.

Mousseline alone, of her entire immediate family, ended up with a reasonably happy ending, which is nice, but only after a lot of suffering. The story is still really very sad, but it's a good humanizing tale of a rather dark period of history. Stewart did a good job of showing Mousseline's transformation from a girl who starts out completely unaware, and concerned with little but the frivolities of court life to a frightened pre-teen caught up in terrifying circumstances beyond her control, to a young woman who gets it and finds immense personal strength to get through the years of her imprisonment while the members of her family are killed one by one. Nice little book that could easily serve to spark an interest in history.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book when I was in grade 8, I found it at the library and just thought it looked interesting. I have read it many times since then and every time I read it, I still can't put the book down, even though I know what's going to happen next. This is the fictional diary of Marie Therese Charlotte de France (daughter of Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI) throughout the events of the French Revolution. To this day, I haven't found another book that focuses on her story, most people are interested in the historical facts and what the King and Queen went through. Stewart manages to weave fiction and historical fact together in this account of the Revolution. While the exact details might be fiction, the general story line and events follow true to what actually happened during the Revolution and gives the reader a very different view of just how terrible the Revolution actually was for everyone involved. I will be reading this book many more times in the future and I definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in seeing the Revolution from a different point of view.
*Contains spoilers after this point*
It begins before the Revolution, when everything is normal and describes from Marie Therese's point of view, how things started changing around the castle. Once the Revolution is in full swing and the Royal Family has been forced to leave Versailles for the less extravagant Tuileries we are offered a different view of the Royal Family. We get to see the caring side of the King and Queen and how the children were affected and afraid of what would become of them. However, even their darkest fears couldn't compare to what awaited them once they were moved to the Tower. One by one, the family starts to disappear from the tower, all the while Marie Therese is hopeful that they will one day return, when we, as the reader, know that this is not the case. I can't help but cry every time I get to the part when the puppy that belonged to Charles the Dauphin while he was incarcerated in the Tower is given to Marie, because I know that it means that he is gone now too. The strength that Marie shows throughout the entire experience is inspiring.

[Louisa Bauman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the subject of the book- a nearly forgotten princess from the French Revolution days. Nevertheless, for the first two thirds of the book, I felt she was a whiny, negative person with no redeeming qualities. As the book drew closer to an end, I became more emotionally invested in Marie Therese, but I think this fascinating story could have been written with more intensity. For the most part, the heroine only got second hand information about what was going on, instead of experiencing anything herself. She merely reacted to things that were told to her. I would give it 3.5 stars.

[Den · Rating 5 out of 5]

She braved life.

[Rick Ekema · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book that began my fascination with the French Revolution.
Well written and have enjoyed this book multiple times.

[Phasa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled across this book when I was 9 and honestly it is still one of my favourite books.

[Julie Banks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wish he finished this collection. Genuinely creepy af.

[Anna Gibson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Princess in the Tower is the fictional memoir of Marie Therese Charlotte, the daughter of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. It begins in the late 1780s as the French Revolution stirs around Marie Therese and her younger brother, though they are relatively unaware of what is really going on outside the protected walls around them. As the royal family is taken to Paris and slowly stripped of everything they had ever known, eventually being imprisoned in Temple, she endures humiliated, separation, and the eventual deaths of most of her family.

Despite the descriptions saying that this book is in the style of The Royal Diaries and Dear America books, it is not in that familiar diary format. It is instead like a long memoir, without diary entries.

I was initially disappointed that the book was not diary style as the descriptions led me to believe, but it faded quickly. The memoir is interesting, detailed generally without sounding like a textbook, and fairly emotional. There are a few preachy entries, particularly near the end, which I found out of place in her memoir.

For us sticklers about history, the book did raise a few eyebrows with me! The biggest was the omission of any mention of Marie Antoinette's second child, Louis Joseph. He died in July 1789, the same month as the diary begins! Yet there is not a single mention of him throughout the memoir. I overlooked several other historical inaccuracies that might have just complicated the plot too much for younger readers, but this one digs at me.

Aside from that major omission, the rest of the book is an entertaining, though tragic, read.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not the target audience for the book, so bear that in mind if you read this review.

Marie Therese was a pill (with good reason, don't get me wrong) throughout her life, and Stewart does not hesitate to depict the girl as such, which makes her ultimate overtures of friendship to Pauline de Tourzel that much the more moving when they finally happen. Marie Antoinette is depicted as a remote parent, and while there is no documentary evidence that Therese was jealous of her younger brother, Stewart merely suggests the normal emotions sisters have for little brothers. There is surprisingly little attention paid to Therese's religious devotion, a hallmark of the adult woman. It gets a little awkward when Therese is chasing around Versailles with her cousin, the Duc d'Angouleme, who eventually wound up marrying her. Fortunately he is bundled off to exile so quickly that the Awkward Foreshadowing part of the novel disappears. This is where I think Stewart is most successful. There is very little, if any, of that. This is good for the knowledgeable reader, but perhaps not as much for the target audience, i.e. young girls who are attracted to royal stories. The sad truth is that Marie Therese, Anastasia, Young Bess, Young Mary Stuart, Young Marie Antoinette, and Lady Jane Grey (to name but a few of the usual suspects) were emphatically not just like them, and it is a little queasy when authors try to make them so. Stewart is a lot better than most in avoiding that (try The Lost Crown by Sarah Miller for someone who pulls it off for the Romanov sisters).

[Adam Zakeriya · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️ GOOD

What stands out most is how much it draws on history, particularly the French Revolution, without ever turning into a lesson or losing its sense of wonder.

The novel echoes the Revolution through its themes of power, collapse, and upheaval. The tower itself feels symbolic of entrenched authority, something distant, imposing, and ultimately vulnerable. The unrest that builds around it mirrors the tension between rulers and the ruled, where systems that once felt permanent begin to fracture under pressure. This historical undercurrent gives the fantasy real weight, grounding its conflicts in something recognisably human.

Stewart handles this connection with subtlety. Rather than retelling history outright, she borrows its emotional logic, the fear of change, the hunger for justice, and the chaos that follows when old orders fall.

What makes the book work so well is its seriousness. It trusts the reader to engage with ideas about revolution, loyalty, and consequence without simplifying them. Characters are shaped by belief and circumstance, much like people caught in real historical shifts, and their choices carry a sense of inevitability.

It blends fantasy with history in a way that feels thoughtful and lasting. It’s a book that entertains first, but rewards rereading with deeper insight, showing how stories about imagined worlds can still speak directly to real moments of upheaval and change.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Princess of France, Marie Therese Charlotte, the daughter of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, had a luxurious childhood. But life for Mousseline, as she is called by her family, changes drastically beginning in 1789. There is a growing discontent in France, and soon a new order emerges, one that has no room for the royal family. Mousseline must endure tragedy as she is imprisoned in a tower, where she is separated from her parents and siblings, and must struggle to remain strong as she endures the loss of her family and her entire way of life.

Narrated by young Marie Therese, this book was very similar to the books in the Royal Diaries series and would make a good companion read to the book about Marie Antoinette from that series. I highly recommend this book to young adults who like novels about royal figures or historical fiction in general. It gave an interesting perspective on the French Revolution from the point of view of the young princess who lost everything.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Princess of France, Marie Therese Charlotte, the daughter of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, had a luxurious childhood. But life for Mousseline, as she is called by her family, changes drastically beginning in 1789. There is a growing discontent in France, and soon a new order emerges, one that has no room for the royal family. Mousseline must endure tragedy as she is imprisoned in a tower, where she is separated from her parents and siblings, and must struggle to remain strong as she endures the loss of her family and her entire way of life.

Narrated by young Marie Therese, this book was very similar to the books in the Royal Diaries series and would make a good companion read to the book about Marie Antoinette from that series. I highly recommend this book to young adults who like novels about royal figures or historical fiction in general. It gave an interesting perspective on the French Revolution from the point of view of the young princess who lost everything.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

One hesitates to give any child a book about the French Revolution, simply because the horrors that it perpetuated are possibly too much for a child to understand in the context of everything else that the Revolution represents. This novel, however, is based on the experience of one historical person whom we know existed and must have gone through something quite similar to what the narrative describes. As it is intended for children, there is nothing stylistically here that will impress an adult, but the story is well-told and, by its very nature, heart-rending. The author has obviously researched the history of this era thoroughly; there are many details that you will be familiar with if you've read a non-fiction work about the French Revolution.

If your child shows an interest in history and is prepared to handle some emotionally devastating situations (though there is something of a 'happy' ending), then I would recommend getting this book for them.

[Pooja. Kajendran · Rating 4 out of 5]

The princess and the tower was a very interesting book because it was based a true story and is written like Marie Thérèse Charlotte diary. It was really detailed and well written. The story was very very good, because it was a bit of a mystery.






Summary:
Marie was a princess in the 1700 and she lived in France with her royal family. Her father was Louis XVI. Her family was really close and everything was well until the French Revolution came along and they were prisoners in a tower. Her mother and father where taken away and it was only her and her brother, because she was a girl it was illegal for her to become a queen. So her brother Edward was supposed to be crowded king but all goes down and instead of his coronation he goes missing and has mysteriously disappeared.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly an amazing book, I have read it many times both in this edition as well as it's original form as "The Dark Tower". I wont lie, the only reason I own this edition as well is because when I wanted to purchase The Dark Tower, it was only available in this format. I'm not a huge fan of the cover art, but the story inside hadn't changed so I couldn't be happier. Hearing the story of the French Revolution from Marie Therese's point of view gives a whole new level to what I had previously learned about the Revolution.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book that piqued my interest in the French Revolution and history in general. I have always wanted to do some serious research into the life of Mousseline. For a long time, I considered this my favorite book, and it probably still is, just because I checked it out of the library so many times I might as well have kept it.

[Shreya=Drastically Random. Find the emoticon. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it, and it's NOT just because I'm in love with historical fiction. It was really real and taught me about the French revolution from a different perspective. We're used to thinking that the queen is bad and the riots are good, but this book makes it different!

[Kaamla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Omg!!! This is like my most favorite book ever!! I love reading about the French Revolution and this book almost made me cry. At first it seems boring but keep reading it and it gets better and better

[Jane Obreshkova · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was younger I just loved it. Every sommer I used to go to the library and read it. That book is the reason of my interest and knowledge about the French revolution... Well, now I don't think it is so fascinating like before, but I still like it...

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorites from when I was younger. Fourteen years later and it still ranks as one of the best. A gripping, sad and just plain interesting story that really brings the past to life.

[Emily Sepa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love historical fictions, but everyone always dies. It's amazing, but quite depressing really.

[Katia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of my favourites as a kid.