’Marie-Therese, The Fate of Marie-Antoinette’s Daughter’
By Susan Nagel
Bloomsbury Publishing
Pub Date: 7/1/09
$18
418 pp
Recommended for historians and drama-lovers alike. Stories of royalty have fascinated the world for centuries, and Marie-Antoinette, especially, has provoked the curiosity of many. This book tells the true story of her daughter’s equally dramatic and tumultuous life.
Marie-Therese was thrown into prison at the age of 13. She remained in a room alone for much of the time, forced to speculate about the deaths of her family members. When she was finally released more than three years later, rumors circulated that she went into hiding while a pretender took her place in public. The public Marie-Therese continued to live a brave and remarkable life, which makes for fascinating reading. This exciting true story is punctuated with excerpts from letters, speeches and memoirs. Every well-stocked home-library deserves a copy of this book. CV — Laura Flaugher
‘The Evolution of Shadows’
By Jason Quinn Malott
Unbridled Books
Pub Date: 10/20/09
$14.95
272 pp
Reading this slim and deeply moving novel is the perfect way to spend several cozy fall evenings. It is intricate, but through the use of spare, poetic language, it reveals the gentle yet animalistic characteristics of love between man and woman, and between friends. In short, it is a work of art that will appeal to both men and women.
Lian travels to Bosnia in search of her former lover who disappeared five years ago during the Bosnian War while working as a photojournalist. She is now traveling with his former interpreter and mentor to find him. All three struggle with the ghosts that this journey uncovers, as they remember their relationships with Gray and the horrors of the war while working through the conflicts in their own lives.
The mystery of Gray’s disappearance and his secret relationship with Lian provide intrigue and make this novel a page-turner, while the exploration of inner-conflict, relationships and love give it breadth and intellectual satisfaction. CV
— Laura Flaugher
