Book Thursday: The cover for the second book in the 'Marie-Antoinette et ses soeurs' series by Anne-Marie Desplat-Duc

Book Thursday: a day for anything and everything books; reviews, highlights, and more.

Marie-Antoinette et ses soeurs (Marie Antoinette and her sisters) is a new French children's novel series from author Anne-Marie Desplat-Duc. The first book was released in February and this second book is set to be released at the beginning of May. The cover was recently put on Amazon--isn't it adorable? The series will follow the adventures of a young Marie Antoinette in her home country of Austria.

 

Book 2 can be preordered from Amazon.fr.

Book Thursday: Four French covers for 'Destin de Reine' by Victoria Holt

Book Thursday: a day for anything and everything books; reviews, highlights, and more.

One of my little hobbies is collecting images of book covers, and historical fiction novels from the 50s-60s are a treasure trove of interesting covers Destin de Reine is the French translation of The Queen's Confession: The Story of Marie Antoinette, a first person historical novel written by Eleanor Hibbert and published under her Victoria Holt pseudonym. When comparing these four covers, it's easy to see which reading demographic each edition was targeting--from historical romance to the bodice ripper audience. 

Which of these 4 is your favorite?

Quick Treasure: Vintage cover for The Queen's Confession by Victoria Holt

Vintage book covers are sometimes cheesy and inaccurate, but I think there's something more endearing about them when compared to book covers which only use official portraits and paintings. This vintage cover for The Queen's Confession by Victoria Holt, even if it looks a bit hokey, still captures that certain retro book cover charm!

A new cover for Marie Antoinette: Princess of Versailles by Kathryn Lasky

 

Marie Antoinette: Princess of Versailles by Kathryn Lasky, part of Scholastic's The Royal Diaries series, is easily one of the most frequently named "gateway novels" that leads someone into an interest in Marie Antoinette, the French Revolution, or even an overall interest in history! It comes as no surprise that the book has been included in at least two of Scholastic's international "diary book" series, such as England's My Royal Story and the French Mon Histoire.

 

The newest 'version' of Lasky's popular historical novel is due to be released in the November of this year. Scholastic recently revived their beloved Dear America series with a new look and new books--although I've yet to see any indication that there will be new Royal Diaries books anytime soon, maybe this new release will at least put the idea on the table!

 

And here is the new cover, fresh from Amazon.com. What do you think? Personally, I love everything but her face... it looks too flat--almost featureless, at least to me. I do love the designs on the bottom of the image, because they give the new cover a 'royal' look without necessarily going for all the pomp and circumstance of the original series' covers. Of course, all that pomp and circumstance is what made the books stand out on the shelves for me... but we'll see how this new edition holds up once it's released!

Cover for Marie Antoinette’s Head: The Royal Hairdresser, The Queen, and the Revolution by Will Bashor

A cover for Marie Antoinette’s Head: The Royal Hairdresser, The Queen, and the Revolution by Will Bashor, due for release in October of this year, was published on Amazon last week:

The cover for Confessions of Marie Antoinette by Juliet Grey

The cover for the upcoming Confessions of Marie Antoinette (formerly The Last October Sky) by Juliet Grey has been released. It's a lovely cover! I am wondering why there seems to be a change in how this last book in the trilogy has been marketed, though. The new title doesn't seem to fit in with the trilogy and the style of the book cover is radically different than the first two.

An excerpt of the third book, which is set to be released in September of this year, can be read at becomingmarie.com.

Book Covers: Farewell, My Queen/Les adieux a la reine by Chantal Thomas

 Just a few covers for Chantal Thomas' novel Farewell, My Queen/Les Adieux a la reine. Personally, I prefer the second cover, sans the "NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE" notice.

Four Farewell, My Queen book covers

Four book covers for Farewell, My Queen by Chantal Thomas. Which is your favorite?

Re-Release: Farewell, My Queen by Chantal Thomas

Farewell, My Queen by Chantal Thomas is going to be re-released this summer with a movie-tie in cover to coincide with the limited theatrical release of the film based on the book. The new edition will be released on July 10th and is a paperback.

July 1789: at the eve of the revolution, occupants of Versailles live in a miniature universe, unconcerned by the increasing turmoil in Paris. But with the shocking news that someone has woken the King in the night, order begins to disintegrate and word of the fall of the Bastille seeps into court. 

Madame Agathe-Sidonie Laborde, the devoted reader for Marie Antoinette, refuses to leave her queen’s side. She watches as the Queen’s attempts to flee are aborted; her most intimate friend betrays her; and the King, appearing to sleepwalk through this crisis, never alters his routine of visiting the Apollo Salon several times a day to consult a giant crystal thermometer. From the tiniest garret to the Hall of Mirrors, where Marie Antoinette stands alone and terrified in the dark, Chantal Thomas creates an intimate portrait of the woman who, like “fire in motion,” was at the center of a world on the edge of oblivion.

The Queen's Confession covers

One of my favorite things about a book, besides the content of course, is the cover!

I'm a bit of a book cover addict, so I love looking up all the various covers of books. Today I'll be posting a visual comparison between some of the book covers for Victoria Holt's novel The Queen's Confession. The Queen's Confession, written by Eleanor Hibbert under one of her many pseudonyms, is a fictional Marie Antoinette autobiography. It was initially published in 1968, and has been republished several times throughout the years.

I've yet to read this novel, but when searching for covers, I did find a surprising amount of romantic pictures - I can only assume that they're meant to represent Axel Fersen!

Here are the romantic covers I've found during my searches.




I especially like the second to the last cover, which is reminiscent of the Norma Shearer inspired covers that popped up in the late 1930s and 40s after the MGM film was released. The second and last cover look like straight-up bodice rippers, though!

Although the romantic cover angle is popular, a few covers make use (for better or worse!) of original images of the queen.




The second cover is my favorite of this set, mainly because it's the only cover that really looks like Marie Antoinette. Her hair appears underpowered, and the dress is a little strange, but I enjoy the quirky color combination and the pose obviously inspired by the Lebrun painting. The rest of the covers fall into the typical traps of generic clothing or strange faces that bear little to no resemblance to the queen.

One thing I do love about older books about Marie Antoinette, particularly fiction books, is their tendency to use original art and photography rather than the stock photos of her famous portraits. The Queen's Confession is definitely a good example of this, although most of the original covers are definitely pushing the romance angle. The 1968 hardcover copy, pictured at the top of this article, is the odd exception.

Most of the later editions of The Queen's Confession also seem to stick to her portraits, which to me is such a shame. But at least we have all these previous editions to enjoy!