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In the Shadow of the Empress: The Defiant Lives of Maria Theresa, Mother of Marie Antoinette, and Her Daughters
The vibrant, sprawling saga of Maria Theresa, the last of the House of Habsburg, and her three Marie Christine, Duchess of Teschen and Maria Theresa's favorite; Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples and Sicily; and the infamous Marie Antoinette, Queen of FranceOut of the thrilling and tempestuous eighteenth century comes the sweeping family saga of beautiful Maria Theresa, a sovereign of extraordinary strength and vision, the only woman ever to inherit and rule the vast Habsburg empire in her own name, and three of her remarkable lovely, talented Maria Christina, governor-general of the Austrian Netherlands; spirited Maria Carolina, the resolute queen of Naples; and the youngest, Marie Antoinette, the glamourous, tragic queen of France, perhaps the most famous princess in history.Unfolding against an irresistible backdrop of brilliant courts from Vienna to Versailles, embracing the exotic lure of Naples and Sicily, this epic history of Maria Theresa and her daughters is a tour de force of desire, adventure, ambition, treachery, sorrow, and glory.Each of these women’s lives was packed with passion and heart-stopping suspense. Maria Theresa inherited her father’s thrones at the age of twenty-three and was immediately attacked on all sides by foreign powers confident that a woman would to be too weak to defend herself. Maria Christina, a gifted artist, who alone among her sisters succeeded in marrying for love, would face the same dangers that destroyed the monarchy in France. Resourceful Maria Carolina would usher in the golden age of Naples only to then face the deadly whirlwind of Napoleon. And, finally, Marie Antoinette, the doomed queen whose stylish excesses and captivating notoriety have masked the truth about her husband and herself for two hundred and fifty years. Vividly written and deeply researched, In the Shadow of the Empress is the vibrant, riveting story of four remarkable women who changed the course of history.
616 pages, Paperback
First published September 21, 2021
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5899 people want to read
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November 24, 2023
“[This] is the story of a family of immensely strong women, beginning with Marie Antoinette’s formidable mother, the empress Maria Theresa, one of the most remarkable leaders Europe has ever produced, and three of her daughters, of whom the notorious queen of France was but the youngest. Her talented older sister, Maria Chrstina, governor-general of the Austrian Netherlands, too, fought the dangers and intrigues unleased by the revolutionary frenzy in France, while Maria Carolina, the astoundingly courageous queen of Naples, survived the first wave of terror only to be then forced to face the cyclone of Napoleon. Their reigns, like Marie Antoinette’s, were packed with splendor and suspense; their adventures informed each other’s stories and today illuminate the extraordinary century in which they lived…”
- Nancy Goldstone, In the Shadow of the Empress: The Defiant Lives of Maria Theresa, Mother of Marie Antoinette, and Her Daughters
Maria Theresa is one of the most fascinating leaders in history. Not only was she the only woman to rule over the Habsburg Empire in her own right, she did so successfully, which cannot be consistently said of this dynasty. She had to navigate the obstacles of endless wars, endless court intrigues, and Frederick the Great, all while carving a place for herself in a male-dominated world. Along the way, she managed to give birth to sixteen children, including Marie Antoinette, the ill-starred Queen of France whose fame has far surpassed that of her more-successful mother.
Nancy Goldstone’s In the Shadow of the Empress attempts to convey the life of Maria Theresa, as well as three of her eleven daughters: the aforementioned Marie Antoinette; Maria Christina, who served as Governor-General of the Austrian Netherlands with her husband; and Maria Carolina, the Queen of Naples and Sicily.
This is, of course, far too much material to be contained within a single volume, even one that is almost 550 pages long. Nevertheless, In the Shadow of the Empress is energetically written, wildly entertaining, and – apparently – extremely controversial in its assertions and portrayals.
***
In the Shadow of the Empress is divided into three sections.
The first begins with Maria Theresa, the oldest surviving child of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI. Able to focus on just one person, this opening act operates as a fairly standard biography, covering Maria Theresa’s lineage, her upbringing, and her ascension to power. Much of the early drama revolves around the so-called Pragmatic Sanction, issued by Charles – who had no sons – to ensure that his daughter would inherit the Habsburg domains undivided. Goldstone also spends a lot of time on Maria Theresa’s confrontations with Frederick of Prussia, who had an insatiable appetite for Habsburg-controlled territory.
The second section of In the Shadow of the Empress gets a bit more complicated, as the tale expands to include Maria Theresa’s large brood, and in particular, Maria Christina, Maria Carolina, and Marie Antoinette. In order to better focus on her subjects, Goldstone eschews chronology, and alternates chapters that follows the different journeys of each of these women. As the book progresses, it requires a bit of mental gymnastics to keep everything straight, especially as Maria Theresa’s daughters are sent to different corners of Europe. There is some repetition, along with skipping backwards and forward through time. For example, Maria Theresa dies in one chapter, and then is back alive in the next. There is also the name issue, given that all the women are either Maria or Marie, which Goldstone tries to alleviate by using the nicknames of Maria Christina (Mimi) and Maria Carolina (Charlotte).
The final section is a historical thriller, as Maria Theresa’s progeny attempt to handle the convulsions of the French Revolution, followed by Hurricane Napoleon. While the entirety of the book is fast-paced, the final third is especially eventful, and hard to put down.
***
Though Goldstone runs the story through her four protagonists, she does not neglect the other players. There are plenty of crisp portraits of well-known figures, such as Frederick and Louis XVI, as well as lesser-knowns, such as Maria Theresa’s son Joseph, an enlightened despot who hamstrung his progressive domestic instincts with a reckless foreign policy.
***
History is seldom boring. If a history book feels tedious, it’s generally because of the writing, not the material. Goldstone is a fantastic writer, and In the Shadow of the Empress overflows with energy, wit, and strong opinions. She is clearly passionate about Maria Theresa and her daughters, to the extent that she takes it almost personally when she perceives them to be wronged.
Obviously, this is not an academic history. It’s written in a novelistic style that places an emphasis on the human dimension, rather than larger social or geopolitical factors. In the Shadow of the Empress is not interested in parsing the intricacies of the intractable game of kings in eighteenth century Europe, which can boggle the mind to the point of numbness. This is pop-history, meant for a general readership, and does not require detailed foreknowledge of every micro-kingdom and principality on the crazy-quilt map.
In other words, this is simplified, boiled down to its base elements, and is directed as much to the heart as the brain.
***
As much as I liked this, I found it quite flawed. Goldstone occasionally attempts to psychoanalyze people who’ve been dead for over 200 years, which is always a fraught proposition. Her conclusion that Louis XVI was autistic is especially inappropriate, given the spectrum that entails, and the difficulty in diagnosing the living, much less those in the remote past. In addition, Goldstone has an annoying habit of refusing to name people. For instance, when the French capture Prague, Goldstone repeatedly refers to “the French commanding general,” rather than identifying the individual by name. This drove me a little nuts, and once I started noticing the habit, I couldn’t stop. I assume she was trying to excise minutiae, but it’s a needless dumbing-down that detracts from the trustworthiness of In the Shadow of the Empress.
And as we’ll see below, trustworthiness is a big dark cloud that hangs over everything.
***
In the Shadow of the Empress has been sharply criticized for its veracity. I’m not going to list all the perceived transgressions, but many of them center on Goldstone’s handling of Marie Antoinette, specifically the allegations that the Queen of France had a sexual affair with Count Axl von Fersen, and that Fersen fathered Louis XVII.
Of this, I’ll say only a few quick things.
First, the existence of “objective” fact in history is actually pretty rare. That is, beyond names and dates and places, it is difficult to find unassailable truths. Almost every so-called “fact” is actually a compilation of inconsistent eyewitness reports baked together with hearsay, rumor, and speculation. I’m not an expert in this area, but as a lawyer, I’m comfortable proposing that no two witness stories are ever the same (unless they have been concocted jointly, as I found out while losing a murder trial). In many cases, we’re not really arguing about facts qua facts, but interpretations based on mixed evidence.
Second, this is a narrative history, a literary form in which the author takes competing versions of events and picks the one they find closest to the truth. Yes, Goldstone could – and should – have done a better job acknowledging that some of her statements are hotly-contested, instead of presenting them as settled. In this, she exhibits a confidence bordering on arrogance. That said, there is circumstantial evidence of – for example – Marie Antoinette and Count Fersen’s relationship.
Finally, Goldstone does show her work. There are endnotes, and she quotes heavily from primary sources, some of which she had translated for this book. Should you cite to In the Shadow of the Empress for your doctoral dissertation on Maria Carolina’s reign over the Two Sicilies? No. But will this suffice if you are going to the beach, and you want to learn about some kickass women battling the French, the Prussians, and the patriarchy, instead of reading the latest James Patterson? Absolutely.
***
The one thing we all share is that we have twenty-four hours in a day. Eight to twelve of those hours are usually devoted to work, with another six to eight given over to sleep. The remainder of the day is further eroded by familial duties, social obligations, and household chores. When all is said and done, a rather pitiful fraction of “free” time remains. Depending on how you spend that allotment, In the Shadow of the Empress may or may not be right for you.
If you are intensely serious about this slice of European history, or if you have devoted yourself to studying the Habsburgs, or if you are a Maria Antoinette stan, you’ll probably want to pass. On the other hand, if you just want a glimpse of this period as you move through this brief life, In the Shadow of the Empress – with its emphasis on storytelling over analysis – will probably not disappoint.
- Nancy Goldstone, In the Shadow of the Empress: The Defiant Lives of Maria Theresa, Mother of Marie Antoinette, and Her Daughters
Maria Theresa is one of the most fascinating leaders in history. Not only was she the only woman to rule over the Habsburg Empire in her own right, she did so successfully, which cannot be consistently said of this dynasty. She had to navigate the obstacles of endless wars, endless court intrigues, and Frederick the Great, all while carving a place for herself in a male-dominated world. Along the way, she managed to give birth to sixteen children, including Marie Antoinette, the ill-starred Queen of France whose fame has far surpassed that of her more-successful mother.
Nancy Goldstone’s In the Shadow of the Empress attempts to convey the life of Maria Theresa, as well as three of her eleven daughters: the aforementioned Marie Antoinette; Maria Christina, who served as Governor-General of the Austrian Netherlands with her husband; and Maria Carolina, the Queen of Naples and Sicily.
This is, of course, far too much material to be contained within a single volume, even one that is almost 550 pages long. Nevertheless, In the Shadow of the Empress is energetically written, wildly entertaining, and – apparently – extremely controversial in its assertions and portrayals.
***
In the Shadow of the Empress is divided into three sections.
The first begins with Maria Theresa, the oldest surviving child of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI. Able to focus on just one person, this opening act operates as a fairly standard biography, covering Maria Theresa’s lineage, her upbringing, and her ascension to power. Much of the early drama revolves around the so-called Pragmatic Sanction, issued by Charles – who had no sons – to ensure that his daughter would inherit the Habsburg domains undivided. Goldstone also spends a lot of time on Maria Theresa’s confrontations with Frederick of Prussia, who had an insatiable appetite for Habsburg-controlled territory.
The second section of In the Shadow of the Empress gets a bit more complicated, as the tale expands to include Maria Theresa’s large brood, and in particular, Maria Christina, Maria Carolina, and Marie Antoinette. In order to better focus on her subjects, Goldstone eschews chronology, and alternates chapters that follows the different journeys of each of these women. As the book progresses, it requires a bit of mental gymnastics to keep everything straight, especially as Maria Theresa’s daughters are sent to different corners of Europe. There is some repetition, along with skipping backwards and forward through time. For example, Maria Theresa dies in one chapter, and then is back alive in the next. There is also the name issue, given that all the women are either Maria or Marie, which Goldstone tries to alleviate by using the nicknames of Maria Christina (Mimi) and Maria Carolina (Charlotte).
The final section is a historical thriller, as Maria Theresa’s progeny attempt to handle the convulsions of the French Revolution, followed by Hurricane Napoleon. While the entirety of the book is fast-paced, the final third is especially eventful, and hard to put down.
***
Though Goldstone runs the story through her four protagonists, she does not neglect the other players. There are plenty of crisp portraits of well-known figures, such as Frederick and Louis XVI, as well as lesser-knowns, such as Maria Theresa’s son Joseph, an enlightened despot who hamstrung his progressive domestic instincts with a reckless foreign policy.
***
History is seldom boring. If a history book feels tedious, it’s generally because of the writing, not the material. Goldstone is a fantastic writer, and In the Shadow of the Empress overflows with energy, wit, and strong opinions. She is clearly passionate about Maria Theresa and her daughters, to the extent that she takes it almost personally when she perceives them to be wronged.
Obviously, this is not an academic history. It’s written in a novelistic style that places an emphasis on the human dimension, rather than larger social or geopolitical factors. In the Shadow of the Empress is not interested in parsing the intricacies of the intractable game of kings in eighteenth century Europe, which can boggle the mind to the point of numbness. This is pop-history, meant for a general readership, and does not require detailed foreknowledge of every micro-kingdom and principality on the crazy-quilt map.
In other words, this is simplified, boiled down to its base elements, and is directed as much to the heart as the brain.
***
As much as I liked this, I found it quite flawed. Goldstone occasionally attempts to psychoanalyze people who’ve been dead for over 200 years, which is always a fraught proposition. Her conclusion that Louis XVI was autistic is especially inappropriate, given the spectrum that entails, and the difficulty in diagnosing the living, much less those in the remote past. In addition, Goldstone has an annoying habit of refusing to name people. For instance, when the French capture Prague, Goldstone repeatedly refers to “the French commanding general,” rather than identifying the individual by name. This drove me a little nuts, and once I started noticing the habit, I couldn’t stop. I assume she was trying to excise minutiae, but it’s a needless dumbing-down that detracts from the trustworthiness of In the Shadow of the Empress.
And as we’ll see below, trustworthiness is a big dark cloud that hangs over everything.
***
In the Shadow of the Empress has been sharply criticized for its veracity. I’m not going to list all the perceived transgressions, but many of them center on Goldstone’s handling of Marie Antoinette, specifically the allegations that the Queen of France had a sexual affair with Count Axl von Fersen, and that Fersen fathered Louis XVII.
Of this, I’ll say only a few quick things.
First, the existence of “objective” fact in history is actually pretty rare. That is, beyond names and dates and places, it is difficult to find unassailable truths. Almost every so-called “fact” is actually a compilation of inconsistent eyewitness reports baked together with hearsay, rumor, and speculation. I’m not an expert in this area, but as a lawyer, I’m comfortable proposing that no two witness stories are ever the same (unless they have been concocted jointly, as I found out while losing a murder trial). In many cases, we’re not really arguing about facts qua facts, but interpretations based on mixed evidence.
Second, this is a narrative history, a literary form in which the author takes competing versions of events and picks the one they find closest to the truth. Yes, Goldstone could – and should – have done a better job acknowledging that some of her statements are hotly-contested, instead of presenting them as settled. In this, she exhibits a confidence bordering on arrogance. That said, there is circumstantial evidence of – for example – Marie Antoinette and Count Fersen’s relationship.
Finally, Goldstone does show her work. There are endnotes, and she quotes heavily from primary sources, some of which she had translated for this book. Should you cite to In the Shadow of the Empress for your doctoral dissertation on Maria Carolina’s reign over the Two Sicilies? No. But will this suffice if you are going to the beach, and you want to learn about some kickass women battling the French, the Prussians, and the patriarchy, instead of reading the latest James Patterson? Absolutely.
***
The one thing we all share is that we have twenty-four hours in a day. Eight to twelve of those hours are usually devoted to work, with another six to eight given over to sleep. The remainder of the day is further eroded by familial duties, social obligations, and household chores. When all is said and done, a rather pitiful fraction of “free” time remains. Depending on how you spend that allotment, In the Shadow of the Empress may or may not be right for you.
If you are intensely serious about this slice of European history, or if you have devoted yourself to studying the Habsburgs, or if you are a Maria Antoinette stan, you’ll probably want to pass. On the other hand, if you just want a glimpse of this period as you move through this brief life, In the Shadow of the Empress – with its emphasis on storytelling over analysis – will probably not disappoint.
October 25, 2021
This is definitely history light.
Its fun, easy to read or in my case listen to and is interesting as well.
Unfortunately its also inaccurate.
The details on Louis XVI & Marie Antoinette aren't based on the most current info.
I'm only passingly familiar with the Hapsburg empire but I've studied the events leading up to The French Revolution in some depth and serious study as well.
John Hardman's biographies on Louis XVI as well as Marie Antoinette are seriously handled, in depth and fully sourced.
Munro Price's 'The Road from Versailles: Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and the Fall of the French Monarchy' offers richness and depth to the politics of the French Revolution and the fall of the Ancien Regime.
This book, however, is both light on actual facts and heavy on presenting conjecture as fact.
I believe personally that Marie Antoinette had a long term affair with Axel von Fersen and I think its likely Louis XVI knew about this relationship. The thing is I'm aware that there's no direct evidence to this effect.
It's possible that Louis Charles, Louis XVII, was the child of Fersen, though I find it extremely unlikely.
Treating these fun conjectures as if they are facts is wrong, to do so without direct sources to support such statements renders this 'biography' largely fiction.
That's really the issue for me.
If I can catch the authors repeated inaccuracies given my limited expertise in this area that renders the rest of the work suspect as well.
This isn't well sourced when these claims would need to be heavily cited. Honestly, I'm not sure the author really even read the books cited in the text as I find it hard to believe given how the author characterized Louis XVI that she actually read John Hardman's bio on him.
I purposely read this slowly so I could check sources, none were really offered in the audiobook but even in the Kindle copy sources were light until the end of the book and even then simply a 'Selected Bibliography' which is not sufficient to cover the claims put forth in this biography. Still, I double checked as I could with the books I'd read on Louis XVI & Marie Antoinette as well as the French Revolution as a whole. This lacks adequate sourcing for the sheer amount of historical conjecturing.
This is entertaining but heavily biased and really of no use as a history source.
I have enjoyed this author's previous biographies and wish her no ill will. I was asked for a review in exchange for a free copy but I turned that down when I read the early reviews and purchased my own copies, so I could fairly review this and this is simply my honest review.
I returned both my kindle & audible book copy because I feel strongly that it is not okay for nonfiction history books to go off-script like this.🤷🏾♀️
Its not okay to pass off fiction as history.
Its fun, easy to read or in my case listen to and is interesting as well.
Unfortunately its also inaccurate.
The details on Louis XVI & Marie Antoinette aren't based on the most current info.
I'm only passingly familiar with the Hapsburg empire but I've studied the events leading up to The French Revolution in some depth and serious study as well.
John Hardman's biographies on Louis XVI as well as Marie Antoinette are seriously handled, in depth and fully sourced.
Munro Price's 'The Road from Versailles: Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and the Fall of the French Monarchy' offers richness and depth to the politics of the French Revolution and the fall of the Ancien Regime.
This book, however, is both light on actual facts and heavy on presenting conjecture as fact.
I believe personally that Marie Antoinette had a long term affair with Axel von Fersen and I think its likely Louis XVI knew about this relationship. The thing is I'm aware that there's no direct evidence to this effect.
It's possible that Louis Charles, Louis XVII, was the child of Fersen, though I find it extremely unlikely.
Treating these fun conjectures as if they are facts is wrong, to do so without direct sources to support such statements renders this 'biography' largely fiction.
That's really the issue for me.
If I can catch the authors repeated inaccuracies given my limited expertise in this area that renders the rest of the work suspect as well.
This isn't well sourced when these claims would need to be heavily cited. Honestly, I'm not sure the author really even read the books cited in the text as I find it hard to believe given how the author characterized Louis XVI that she actually read John Hardman's bio on him.
I purposely read this slowly so I could check sources, none were really offered in the audiobook but even in the Kindle copy sources were light until the end of the book and even then simply a 'Selected Bibliography' which is not sufficient to cover the claims put forth in this biography. Still, I double checked as I could with the books I'd read on Louis XVI & Marie Antoinette as well as the French Revolution as a whole. This lacks adequate sourcing for the sheer amount of historical conjecturing.
This is entertaining but heavily biased and really of no use as a history source.
I have enjoyed this author's previous biographies and wish her no ill will. I was asked for a review in exchange for a free copy but I turned that down when I read the early reviews and purchased my own copies, so I could fairly review this and this is simply my honest review.
I returned both my kindle & audible book copy because I feel strongly that it is not okay for nonfiction history books to go off-script like this.🤷🏾♀️
Its not okay to pass off fiction as history.
January 12, 2022
When it comes to fiction, I tire of authors quickly—four or so books will usually have me thoroughly sick of someone’s patterns and quirks even if I loved the first one—and judging by my experience with Goldstone’s work, the same seems true with nonfiction. I loved Daughters of the Winter Queen, and I can’t confidently assert that this book—my fourth Goldstone history—is fundamentally different. But it’s time for me to move on.
Goldstone picks intriguing subjects: typically group biographies of queens and princesses from continental Europe about whom little has been written in English. This one caught my eye for its 18th century setting and particularly for featuring Empress Maria Theresa, who governed Austria and Hungary as the only Hapsburg empress to rule in her own right. As far as I can tell from this book, Maria Theresa was basically the 18th century German version of Queen Victoria: long reign, loving marriage, lots of children, long widowhood, preoccupation with morality. Maria Theresa was faced with devastating wars, however, as Frederick the Great frequently tried to carve out territory from her domain, beginning when she ascended the throne as a pregnant 20-something. I’m not clear from this book whether she accomplished much in the end besides finally deterring Frederick’s attacks (though he kept Silesia) and modernizing the military, but she was a hard worker who cared about doing the right thing and unusually, even appointed an official whose job was to criticize her behavior.
Maria Theresa and her husband had 16 kids, of whom 10—4 sons and 6 daughters—survived to adulthood; this book also features the most influential three daughters. Maria Christina was her mother’s favorite, and was allowed to marry a penniless nobleman she loved in order to stay nearby; the couple later became governors of the Austrian Netherlands and made some largely unsuccessful attempts to moderate imperial policy in order to keep this independent-minded region in the empire. While Maria Christina is perhaps not a crucial historical figure, I knew nothing about her before, so this was interesting.
Then there’s Maria Carolina, who was married off at age 15 to the king of Naples, a particularly childish young man, and essentially took over the government herself when he proved uninterested in it. Of the women profiled here she seems to have been the most enlightened ruler, and has quite a colorful story. Unfortunately, Napoleon later seized Naples and Maria Carolina doesn’t seem to have handled her later-in-life setbacks particularly gracefully. Her story is dramatic though, and also one I knew nothing about.
Finally there’s the youngest daughter, Marie Antoinette, well-known already as the ill-fated queen of France. Having already read a couple of biographies of her—one by Antonia Fraser and another by French historian Evelyne Lever—I did still find these sections interesting enough, though I was glad they didn’t consume the book as they might easily have done, and I’d recommend an individual biography instead for those particularly interested in her.
Overall, though this is a long book and some early sections on military maneuvers are a bit of a slog, I think it’s generally engaging; Goldstone’s talent is for relating complicated history in a colorful way. That said, four books in, her sassy asides no longer charm me, and her tendency to color historical figures’ words has begun to grate. Whenever she quotes a historical figure directly, it’s “he reported breathlessly,” “she murmured pointedly,” “he observed cheerfully,” “she countered sweetly.” This is especially confusing since most of these quotes presumably survived because they were written, not spoken, and therefore come with no more information about their authors’ emotional states than we can glean ourselves from the text.
The larger issue here is that Goldstone takes a definite viewpoint on each character who enters the story, what kind of person they were and why they behaved the way they did. This makes for engaging and memorable storytelling, but she’s also unabashedly partisan, both when it comes to particular figures and political situations. Perhaps unsurprisingly from someone who exclusively writes biographies of queens, Goldstone is very pro-queen, meaning not only feminist but, as becomes evident here, to some degree monarchist. Word choices can be opinionated, such as referring to the killing of a grand total of two of Marie Antoinette’s guards as “massacring” them. My increasing discomfort with her disparaging characterization of people who wanted to overthrow the system certainly contributed to my reduced enjoyment of the book.
Obviously, some reviewers here have violently disagreed with certain other interpretations. I think Goldstone’s theory that Louis XVI was autistic is an interesting and valid one, and she’s clear that it is speculation, based on comparison of his behavior to diagnostic guidelines and consultation with a child psychologist. It’s less clear from the text that her belief that Axel von Fersen fathered Marie Antoinette’s two younger children isn’t generally accepted (historians seem to agree the two had a romance but disagree about whether it was ever consummated).
The larger issue for me is less about specific incidents—historians will always have their own interpretations—and more about the author’s support for her assertions. Unfortunately, Goldstone only cites sources for direct quotations, and while there are many of those, most of the text still does not consist of them. So when, for instance, she claims that Marie Antoinette was humiliated and traumatized by being forced to remove her Austrian clothes and don French ones at the border—which Fraser figured probably wasn’t that big a deal, princesses being dressed and undressed by others constantly—we have no way of knowing whether Goldstone is referencing some more recently discovered source, or simply projecting her own assumptions.
So this book is on the one hand, a somewhat light popular history, but on the other, a hefty tome. I wound up finding it a bit tiresome, but as that is probably largely due to my own quirks, I wouldn’t discourage others from reading it. While Goldstone does include speculation of her own, I think the general narrative is solid and I wouldn’t dismiss it for disagreement with a couple of theories.
—
Pre-release comments:
I haven't even finished Daughters of the Winter Queen yet but I want this book tomorrow. How Empress Maria Theresa has gone without an English-language biography (at least that I'm aware of!) so long I do not understand.
Goldstone picks intriguing subjects: typically group biographies of queens and princesses from continental Europe about whom little has been written in English. This one caught my eye for its 18th century setting and particularly for featuring Empress Maria Theresa, who governed Austria and Hungary as the only Hapsburg empress to rule in her own right. As far as I can tell from this book, Maria Theresa was basically the 18th century German version of Queen Victoria: long reign, loving marriage, lots of children, long widowhood, preoccupation with morality. Maria Theresa was faced with devastating wars, however, as Frederick the Great frequently tried to carve out territory from her domain, beginning when she ascended the throne as a pregnant 20-something. I’m not clear from this book whether she accomplished much in the end besides finally deterring Frederick’s attacks (though he kept Silesia) and modernizing the military, but she was a hard worker who cared about doing the right thing and unusually, even appointed an official whose job was to criticize her behavior.
Maria Theresa and her husband had 16 kids, of whom 10—4 sons and 6 daughters—survived to adulthood; this book also features the most influential three daughters. Maria Christina was her mother’s favorite, and was allowed to marry a penniless nobleman she loved in order to stay nearby; the couple later became governors of the Austrian Netherlands and made some largely unsuccessful attempts to moderate imperial policy in order to keep this independent-minded region in the empire. While Maria Christina is perhaps not a crucial historical figure, I knew nothing about her before, so this was interesting.
Then there’s Maria Carolina, who was married off at age 15 to the king of Naples, a particularly childish young man, and essentially took over the government herself when he proved uninterested in it. Of the women profiled here she seems to have been the most enlightened ruler, and has quite a colorful story. Unfortunately, Napoleon later seized Naples and Maria Carolina doesn’t seem to have handled her later-in-life setbacks particularly gracefully. Her story is dramatic though, and also one I knew nothing about.
Finally there’s the youngest daughter, Marie Antoinette, well-known already as the ill-fated queen of France. Having already read a couple of biographies of her—one by Antonia Fraser and another by French historian Evelyne Lever—I did still find these sections interesting enough, though I was glad they didn’t consume the book as they might easily have done, and I’d recommend an individual biography instead for those particularly interested in her.
Overall, though this is a long book and some early sections on military maneuvers are a bit of a slog, I think it’s generally engaging; Goldstone’s talent is for relating complicated history in a colorful way. That said, four books in, her sassy asides no longer charm me, and her tendency to color historical figures’ words has begun to grate. Whenever she quotes a historical figure directly, it’s “he reported breathlessly,” “she murmured pointedly,” “he observed cheerfully,” “she countered sweetly.” This is especially confusing since most of these quotes presumably survived because they were written, not spoken, and therefore come with no more information about their authors’ emotional states than we can glean ourselves from the text.
The larger issue here is that Goldstone takes a definite viewpoint on each character who enters the story, what kind of person they were and why they behaved the way they did. This makes for engaging and memorable storytelling, but she’s also unabashedly partisan, both when it comes to particular figures and political situations. Perhaps unsurprisingly from someone who exclusively writes biographies of queens, Goldstone is very pro-queen, meaning not only feminist but, as becomes evident here, to some degree monarchist. Word choices can be opinionated, such as referring to the killing of a grand total of two of Marie Antoinette’s guards as “massacring” them. My increasing discomfort with her disparaging characterization of people who wanted to overthrow the system certainly contributed to my reduced enjoyment of the book.
Obviously, some reviewers here have violently disagreed with certain other interpretations. I think Goldstone’s theory that Louis XVI was autistic is an interesting and valid one, and she’s clear that it is speculation, based on comparison of his behavior to diagnostic guidelines and consultation with a child psychologist. It’s less clear from the text that her belief that Axel von Fersen fathered Marie Antoinette’s two younger children isn’t generally accepted (historians seem to agree the two had a romance but disagree about whether it was ever consummated).
The larger issue for me is less about specific incidents—historians will always have their own interpretations—and more about the author’s support for her assertions. Unfortunately, Goldstone only cites sources for direct quotations, and while there are many of those, most of the text still does not consist of them. So when, for instance, she claims that Marie Antoinette was humiliated and traumatized by being forced to remove her Austrian clothes and don French ones at the border—which Fraser figured probably wasn’t that big a deal, princesses being dressed and undressed by others constantly—we have no way of knowing whether Goldstone is referencing some more recently discovered source, or simply projecting her own assumptions.
So this book is on the one hand, a somewhat light popular history, but on the other, a hefty tome. I wound up finding it a bit tiresome, but as that is probably largely due to my own quirks, I wouldn’t discourage others from reading it. While Goldstone does include speculation of her own, I think the general narrative is solid and I wouldn’t dismiss it for disagreement with a couple of theories.
—
Pre-release comments:
I haven't even finished Daughters of the Winter Queen yet but I want this book tomorrow. How Empress Maria Theresa has gone without an English-language biography (at least that I'm aware of!) so long I do not understand.
September 25, 2023
Despite her near 50 year rule there is not much for the general reader in English on Maria Teresa, and there is less on her daughters Maria Christina and Maria Carolina. Goldstone helps to correct this relating their stories as well as that of their famous sister, Marie Antoinette. I particularly appreciated the treatment of what they faced emotionally as their respective roles were thrust upon them.
The negotiations of Maria Theresa’s father that made her succession possible weakened the Hapsburg Empire. The first third of the book covers Maria Theresa's 7 year struggle to keep her territories and power. Through the aggression of the King of Prussia (Frederic the Great) Maria Theresa lost control of Silesia but solidified her rule over many other domains. After the Austrian War of Succession the book gets more reader friendly as it describes the difficulties of daughters Maria Christina (Governor of the Austrian Netherlands), Maria Carolina (Queen of Naples and Sicily) and her youngest daughter, Marie Antoinette (Queen of France) as they are buffeted by the rising tide of republican ideals.
In reading about “Mimi” (Maria Christina) and her husband Albert I am reminded of Tsar Alexander II of Russia’s warning that for the monarchy to survive it had to govern less (too bad for Russia that his progeny did not listen). Of the countries covered, the Netherlands is only country that still has a monarch. Goldstone shows how Mimi and Albert attempted to carry on the tradition of the monarch's autonomy within the Hapsburg Empire. Their peace and that of the country was shattered when Joseph II, who succeeded their mother to head the Empire, attempted to break the autonomy and impose rule from Vienna at all the wrong time in history. This left Mimi and Albert to cope with the fallout.
Goldstone gives a sympathetic treatment of Maria Carolina who was sent off to Naples at age 14 to marry the crown prince. Her mother had the foresight to put in the marriage agreement that Maria Carolina serve on the council upon the birth of a male heir. The crown prince, and later king, of Naples was not interested in governing, but Maria Carolina was. Goldstone shows how Maria Carolina took control while giving birth to 15 (or was it 16) children. It was Maria Carolina's fate to face not only the influence of the Jacobin's, but also the armies of Napoleon.
Goldstone’s treatment of Marie Antoinette has raised the ire of many Goodreads reviewers. They fully denigrate this book and the reasons they give are the treatment of Louis XVI and the relationship of Marie Antoinette and Axel von Fersen of Sweden. (There is the claim of other inaccuracies, but none to date are mentioned in these reviews).
The footnotes for the relationship of Fersen and Marie Antoinette allude to Fersen’s diary, and while it is not spelled out, there is a case to be made. The reviewers may have been more comfortable with its being couched with qualifiers such as “seems to” or “probably”.
I remember the uproar over Annette Gordon-Reed’s interpretation of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, so, not being in a position to judge any of this, I will wait and see. I do think if these are the reasons 1 and 2 stars, the book is being unduly punished.
It really does seem that Goldstone is on to something in saying Louis is autistic. It does fit his early behavior. Goldstone’s footnotes show that this is what she believes is true.
For the general reader this is an excellent framework to understand the reach not only of the legacy of Maria Theresa but also the broader ideals of the Enlightenment and the effect in Europe of these ideals as they were playing out in the American Revolution.
The negotiations of Maria Theresa’s father that made her succession possible weakened the Hapsburg Empire. The first third of the book covers Maria Theresa's 7 year struggle to keep her territories and power. Through the aggression of the King of Prussia (Frederic the Great) Maria Theresa lost control of Silesia but solidified her rule over many other domains. After the Austrian War of Succession the book gets more reader friendly as it describes the difficulties of daughters Maria Christina (Governor of the Austrian Netherlands), Maria Carolina (Queen of Naples and Sicily) and her youngest daughter, Marie Antoinette (Queen of France) as they are buffeted by the rising tide of republican ideals.
In reading about “Mimi” (Maria Christina) and her husband Albert I am reminded of Tsar Alexander II of Russia’s warning that for the monarchy to survive it had to govern less (too bad for Russia that his progeny did not listen). Of the countries covered, the Netherlands is only country that still has a monarch. Goldstone shows how Mimi and Albert attempted to carry on the tradition of the monarch's autonomy within the Hapsburg Empire. Their peace and that of the country was shattered when Joseph II, who succeeded their mother to head the Empire, attempted to break the autonomy and impose rule from Vienna at all the wrong time in history. This left Mimi and Albert to cope with the fallout.
Goldstone gives a sympathetic treatment of Maria Carolina who was sent off to Naples at age 14 to marry the crown prince. Her mother had the foresight to put in the marriage agreement that Maria Carolina serve on the council upon the birth of a male heir. The crown prince, and later king, of Naples was not interested in governing, but Maria Carolina was. Goldstone shows how Maria Carolina took control while giving birth to 15 (or was it 16) children. It was Maria Carolina's fate to face not only the influence of the Jacobin's, but also the armies of Napoleon.
Goldstone’s treatment of Marie Antoinette has raised the ire of many Goodreads reviewers. They fully denigrate this book and the reasons they give are the treatment of Louis XVI and the relationship of Marie Antoinette and Axel von Fersen of Sweden. (There is the claim of other inaccuracies, but none to date are mentioned in these reviews).
The footnotes for the relationship of Fersen and Marie Antoinette allude to Fersen’s diary, and while it is not spelled out, there is a case to be made. The reviewers may have been more comfortable with its being couched with qualifiers such as “seems to” or “probably”.
I remember the uproar over Annette Gordon-Reed’s interpretation of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, so, not being in a position to judge any of this, I will wait and see. I do think if these are the reasons 1 and 2 stars, the book is being unduly punished.
It really does seem that Goldstone is on to something in saying Louis is autistic. It does fit his early behavior. Goldstone’s footnotes show that this is what she believes is true.
For the general reader this is an excellent framework to understand the reach not only of the legacy of Maria Theresa but also the broader ideals of the Enlightenment and the effect in Europe of these ideals as they were playing out in the American Revolution.
October 23, 2021
This is extremely hard to get "into"- to embed. It is classified non-fiction and it is filled with 100's, literally, 100's of characters. At least the same 3 or 4 names in each generation, if not also in each siblings' descendants. You need to have a fairly accurate overview idea of the political divisions of Europe and the history of all these monarchies or district's nomenclature, as well.
Maria Theresa (Empress of Holy Roman Empire, Archduchess of Austria, titled Sovereign of Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Transylvania, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria and Galicia, Austrian Netherlands etc. etc. etc.) She was the core- 3 of her daughters' lives and governance all entwined follow with chronological varying between the 3 or 4 of them. One is Vienna, one in Austira/Poland, one in Naples, one in Paris.
The book is so sectioned that I was engaged but not enthralled until Maria Theresa was reigning and into the years of her first wars and council challenges. She had 16 children in her first 20 years of marriage. Her stamina, physical energy, incredible intellect of inquiry is only in the shade of her protection of the dynasty. Boys matter. Girls for alliances.
Most of her children also had large families although many, at least half of every generation died from either smallpox or TB. Many of them also in childhood of these and other ailments of infection.
At about the 200 page mark I became absolutely enthralled and read overnight. And then after about page 419 I read some reviews. That changed my enjoyment to the max. As much as this author uses correspondence and very worded witness- she also makes assumptions. Some of them worse than what Zinn did to Columbus. There is just too much partiality and bias that can't be proven. Like the accepted truth here of paternity for Marie Antoinette's two youngest children- but other issues too.
So I think it is a very insightful read- especially upon the American and French Revolutionaries characters and the inputs of money to those enablers etc. But beyond the very real facts of marriage, coronations, titles, laws, war and illness recorded etc.?
It might have been classified fiction to be more honest? But I loved the footnotes. Especially upon Frederik the great and all of his personality quirks formed and observed. And his honesty in negotiations and "word". Every time I have studied his methods and outcomes I have thought the same thing. Also the author making the case for Autism syndromes of Louis XVI from birth on- I don't at all disagree. But labels like that are always subjectively changeable. Rather like the political language of 2021. Subjective information distorted is not far from lies. Most of the time it is lies.
But the read was a 5 star of enjoyment for me. Because you saw / felt/ could view with full color portrait pages of high quality- these lives. These people did NOT own their own lives. Very few could BE for more than 2 hours a week- just base human.
I loved the very detailed daily schedule of Maria Theresa. Up at 5 am and with Mass and at least 4 hours of religious or other formal dignitary meetings or councils. Lunch at 1 and dinner at 9pm. Dressing for all of those too. Plus time to read and compose plays or conduct /entertain with music? No wonder Ferdinand, King of Naples, only wanted to hunt or fish and never ruled at formal council at all but left it to his wife. Just joking. But not really. Oh don't forget the traditional required a few times a month too. Like dressing in 200 year old heavy cloaks and carrying a silver saber (all weigh about 1/2 as much as yourself) while jumping a stallion and having to ride it up a hill with the saber raised. Part of the continual job. (She did it for her Hungarian investment when she was about 5 months pregnant with her 6th or 7th kid.)
The life of the Queen of Naples (Charlotte, her Maria Carolina) was just as poignant. Also a mother of 16 or 17 (depending upon if you counted stillborn or not?). Regardless, Lafayette to Napoleon- all the French Jacobins. What HORRORS! And who can say how long Antoinette's marriage was unconsummated? They all of them covered up witness or distorted their own avenues/paths after about age 25, IMHO.
The time of the Enlightenment to ideas, vaccinations, political word definition changing- all of it reflects this current period to an immense degree. The vast personality characterizations for the Maria Theresa offspring, those siblings, was phenomenal in its layers. And placements in housing and within the family over structure. Do I know how the youngest get away with murder and often at the same time ignored! (Can you tell I was the eldest.)
The reviews for this giving it 1 star? There is so much of worth here. If Zinn could be taught in grade or high school or college as valid history- than this is 4.5 stars. Marie Antoinette was not a fraction as bad as her publicity. She was a hate fixture for a vile political action agenda far more.
This book made me realize something else. How PR can be made to victimize and discredit and slurr nearly anyone it wants to under the right circumstances. Like the witch hunts or other crazy offense violence targets- it's mostly subjective judgment lies for something else altogether.
Maria Theresa (Empress of Holy Roman Empire, Archduchess of Austria, titled Sovereign of Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Transylvania, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria and Galicia, Austrian Netherlands etc. etc. etc.) She was the core- 3 of her daughters' lives and governance all entwined follow with chronological varying between the 3 or 4 of them. One is Vienna, one in Austira/Poland, one in Naples, one in Paris.
The book is so sectioned that I was engaged but not enthralled until Maria Theresa was reigning and into the years of her first wars and council challenges. She had 16 children in her first 20 years of marriage. Her stamina, physical energy, incredible intellect of inquiry is only in the shade of her protection of the dynasty. Boys matter. Girls for alliances.
Most of her children also had large families although many, at least half of every generation died from either smallpox or TB. Many of them also in childhood of these and other ailments of infection.
At about the 200 page mark I became absolutely enthralled and read overnight. And then after about page 419 I read some reviews. That changed my enjoyment to the max. As much as this author uses correspondence and very worded witness- she also makes assumptions. Some of them worse than what Zinn did to Columbus. There is just too much partiality and bias that can't be proven. Like the accepted truth here of paternity for Marie Antoinette's two youngest children- but other issues too.
So I think it is a very insightful read- especially upon the American and French Revolutionaries characters and the inputs of money to those enablers etc. But beyond the very real facts of marriage, coronations, titles, laws, war and illness recorded etc.?
It might have been classified fiction to be more honest? But I loved the footnotes. Especially upon Frederik the great and all of his personality quirks formed and observed. And his honesty in negotiations and "word". Every time I have studied his methods and outcomes I have thought the same thing. Also the author making the case for Autism syndromes of Louis XVI from birth on- I don't at all disagree. But labels like that are always subjectively changeable. Rather like the political language of 2021. Subjective information distorted is not far from lies. Most of the time it is lies.
But the read was a 5 star of enjoyment for me. Because you saw / felt/ could view with full color portrait pages of high quality- these lives. These people did NOT own their own lives. Very few could BE for more than 2 hours a week- just base human.
I loved the very detailed daily schedule of Maria Theresa. Up at 5 am and with Mass and at least 4 hours of religious or other formal dignitary meetings or councils. Lunch at 1 and dinner at 9pm. Dressing for all of those too. Plus time to read and compose plays or conduct /entertain with music? No wonder Ferdinand, King of Naples, only wanted to hunt or fish and never ruled at formal council at all but left it to his wife. Just joking. But not really. Oh don't forget the traditional required a few times a month too. Like dressing in 200 year old heavy cloaks and carrying a silver saber (all weigh about 1/2 as much as yourself) while jumping a stallion and having to ride it up a hill with the saber raised. Part of the continual job. (She did it for her Hungarian investment when she was about 5 months pregnant with her 6th or 7th kid.)
The life of the Queen of Naples (Charlotte, her Maria Carolina) was just as poignant. Also a mother of 16 or 17 (depending upon if you counted stillborn or not?). Regardless, Lafayette to Napoleon- all the French Jacobins. What HORRORS! And who can say how long Antoinette's marriage was unconsummated? They all of them covered up witness or distorted their own avenues/paths after about age 25, IMHO.
The time of the Enlightenment to ideas, vaccinations, political word definition changing- all of it reflects this current period to an immense degree. The vast personality characterizations for the Maria Theresa offspring, those siblings, was phenomenal in its layers. And placements in housing and within the family over structure. Do I know how the youngest get away with murder and often at the same time ignored! (Can you tell I was the eldest.)
The reviews for this giving it 1 star? There is so much of worth here. If Zinn could be taught in grade or high school or college as valid history- than this is 4.5 stars. Marie Antoinette was not a fraction as bad as her publicity. She was a hate fixture for a vile political action agenda far more.
This book made me realize something else. How PR can be made to victimize and discredit and slurr nearly anyone it wants to under the right circumstances. Like the witch hunts or other crazy offense violence targets- it's mostly subjective judgment lies for something else altogether.
October 31, 2021
This is a hard review for me to write because I like Nancy Goldstone. I like that she chooses to write popular history about networks of women and I like how her writing makes historical figures flesh and blood. This book was no different — she's great at linking the political with the personal, and her writing is super engaging.
However, I think there's something immensely troubling, not to mention harmful, about diagnosing a historical figure with autism and then blaming this diagnosis on the suffering that occurred under his reign. She relies on stereotypes of people with ASD to make claims about Louis XVI's behaviour drawn from secondhand and thirdhand accounts. The way that she asserts that he was on the autism spectrum, and uses that as a crutch to explain why he failed both as a monarch and as a husband is deeply deeply fucked up. It reinforces harmful stereotypes and enacts prejudice on a community.
To a lesser extent, she does the same thing when discussing Frederick the Great and his father. She blames his father's physical and emotional abuse on unsubstantiated claims that he was a closeted gay man, linking violence to homosexuality. She does the same thing with Frederick the Great's well-recorded misogyny, tying it to his sexuality in a way that suggests he was a misogynist because he was gay.
Though not as harmful, she also seems to be unwilling to allow any of her central characters (other than Maria Theresia) to take accountability for their own actions. When discussing Marie Antoinette's early disinterest in the French kingdom and its politics, she somehow blames Marie Antoinette's removal from the common people and their plights on... Madame du Barry? Not to mention, she all but calls du Barry a slur multiple times, seemingly disgusted by the fact that a poor woman became a mistress to the king of France — and gasp, had sex with him and got material benefits out of it! It's hard to take a book that seeks to peel back the misogyny about women in power seriously when it's also so misogynistic towards women of lesser social status.
Then, there's the weird von Fersen bits, which posit without proof that Marie Antoinette's two younger children were fathered by him. I don't feel in any kind of strong way about whether or not Marie Antoinette had an affair, but to basically say "von Fersen was a romantic so he was definitely in Marie Antoinette's bed on the night of the Women's March on Versailles" and "he mentioned the Dauphin one time in a letter" is just awful scholarship. Presenting his fatherhood of the children was indisputable fact — going so far as to refer to these children as von Fersen's consistently throughout the book — is bad history.
I found these bits of the book so troubling that I couldn't appreciate the rest of it. I did enjoy the Maria Carolina and Maria Christina sections much more than those on Marie Antoinette and Maria Theresia, though I think that that might just be because I'm less-familiar with those two. I especially loved the focus on Maria Carolina's relationship with Emma Hamilton, and I would love to see an entire book focused on that rich alliance. I also appreciate that Goldstone acknowledged the relationship between Isabella of Parma and Maria Christina, and really enjoyed the focus on the relationships between Maria Theresia and her children.
All in all, I'm just not comfortable giving this a higher rating because I think it espoused some biases and stereotypes that could really hurt people. Worse than disappointing, this was really just offensive.
PS: Bonus points for completely erasing Madame Clotilde, Louis XVI's sister, so deeply from the narrative of her family that I too almost forgot that she existed.
PPS: The way this book talks about Hungary and the Magyars is weird.
However, I think there's something immensely troubling, not to mention harmful, about diagnosing a historical figure with autism and then blaming this diagnosis on the suffering that occurred under his reign. She relies on stereotypes of people with ASD to make claims about Louis XVI's behaviour drawn from secondhand and thirdhand accounts. The way that she asserts that he was on the autism spectrum, and uses that as a crutch to explain why he failed both as a monarch and as a husband is deeply deeply fucked up. It reinforces harmful stereotypes and enacts prejudice on a community.
To a lesser extent, she does the same thing when discussing Frederick the Great and his father. She blames his father's physical and emotional abuse on unsubstantiated claims that he was a closeted gay man, linking violence to homosexuality. She does the same thing with Frederick the Great's well-recorded misogyny, tying it to his sexuality in a way that suggests he was a misogynist because he was gay.
Though not as harmful, she also seems to be unwilling to allow any of her central characters (other than Maria Theresia) to take accountability for their own actions. When discussing Marie Antoinette's early disinterest in the French kingdom and its politics, she somehow blames Marie Antoinette's removal from the common people and their plights on... Madame du Barry? Not to mention, she all but calls du Barry a slur multiple times, seemingly disgusted by the fact that a poor woman became a mistress to the king of France — and gasp, had sex with him and got material benefits out of it! It's hard to take a book that seeks to peel back the misogyny about women in power seriously when it's also so misogynistic towards women of lesser social status.
Then, there's the weird von Fersen bits, which posit without proof that Marie Antoinette's two younger children were fathered by him. I don't feel in any kind of strong way about whether or not Marie Antoinette had an affair, but to basically say "von Fersen was a romantic so he was definitely in Marie Antoinette's bed on the night of the Women's March on Versailles" and "he mentioned the Dauphin one time in a letter" is just awful scholarship. Presenting his fatherhood of the children was indisputable fact — going so far as to refer to these children as von Fersen's consistently throughout the book — is bad history.
I found these bits of the book so troubling that I couldn't appreciate the rest of it. I did enjoy the Maria Carolina and Maria Christina sections much more than those on Marie Antoinette and Maria Theresia, though I think that that might just be because I'm less-familiar with those two. I especially loved the focus on Maria Carolina's relationship with Emma Hamilton, and I would love to see an entire book focused on that rich alliance. I also appreciate that Goldstone acknowledged the relationship between Isabella of Parma and Maria Christina, and really enjoyed the focus on the relationships between Maria Theresia and her children.
All in all, I'm just not comfortable giving this a higher rating because I think it espoused some biases and stereotypes that could really hurt people. Worse than disappointing, this was really just offensive.
PS: Bonus points for completely erasing Madame Clotilde, Louis XVI's sister, so deeply from the narrative of her family that I too almost forgot that she existed.
PPS: The way this book talks about Hungary and the Magyars is weird.
September 23, 2021
DNF as soon as I saw the genealogical ‘cast of characters’ where two of Marie Antoinette’s children are listed as those of Axel von Fersen. There is no historical evidence that the two were lovers.
This makes me call into question the entire biography. I cannot suspend disbelief.
This makes me call into question the entire biography. I cannot suspend disbelief.
January 24, 2022
On the basis of this book, I conclude that Nancy Goldstone is the Bizarro World Nancy Mitford as an historical writer. Mitford, who produced biographies of Louis XIV, Madame de Pompadour and Frederick the Great, covers some of the same territory as In the Shadow of the Empress but lands squarely on Frederick's side. Goldstone is equally relentless for Team Maria Theresa. Each sees historical figures through only one lens: does she find him or her personally charming? Mitford had one reviewer of Pompadour chastise her for calling Louis XV "perfect heaven" on seemingly every other page. Goldstone is equally over the top about everyone from Maria Christina and Maria Carolina to Maria Theresa. Marie Antoinette never has a chance because of her immaturity, both mental and physical, at the time her loving mother dispatched her to wed the Dauphin. The Dauphin himself is diagnosed with autism on the basis of traits blindly submitted to an autism expert, traits which are at best cherry-picked by Goldstone. Fersen is the father of Louis Charles and Sophie Beatrix because . . . well, because Goldstone says he was. No evidence whatsoever is produced for this claim. I wouldn't say it was impossible for the Queen to have had an affair with Fersen, but children? Moreover, Goldstone tucks Fersen and Antoinette into bed together on the night Versailles is attacked by enraged Parisians. No one has ever mentioned that tidbit before, and of course . . . no evidence.
As with Mitford, Goldstone goes waaaaay over the top with asides to the reader. To list only one, Maria Theresa never feels the day is off to a good start unless her hair looks good. Goldstone understands completely because neither does she. I am not sure what exactly the reader is supposed to do with that nugget of information.
But as with Mitford, Goldstone writes with a breezy style that carries the reader along. However, if I understood her acknowledgements correctly, Goldstone undertook a biography of Habsburgs without the ability to read German sources in the original language? Most of her bibliograhic sources are biographies written during the 19th and early 20th centuries, when Marie Antoinette hagiography was peaking. It's still going strong, but there have also been scholarly examinations. Antonia Fraser's biography (as an example) is not cited. There are so many historical howlers and naive conclusions in the areas in which I have a strong knowledge background that my confidence in what Goldstone puts forth about people and events I don't was quickly eroded. I am also not entirely sure why Madame de Pompadour and Emma Hamilton come off better than DuBarry. Unlike Pompadour, DuBarry never caused France's involvement in a debilitating war, and both Hamilton and DuBarry were prostitutes before they were mistresses. Again, Goldstone likes two of the ladies but not the third.
We need a new biography of Maria Theresa based upon primary sources, and as part of it a far more intelligent evaluation of the role her children played on the European stage during the 18th century. This book isn't it.
As with Mitford, Goldstone goes waaaaay over the top with asides to the reader. To list only one, Maria Theresa never feels the day is off to a good start unless her hair looks good. Goldstone understands completely because neither does she. I am not sure what exactly the reader is supposed to do with that nugget of information.
But as with Mitford, Goldstone writes with a breezy style that carries the reader along. However, if I understood her acknowledgements correctly, Goldstone undertook a biography of Habsburgs without the ability to read German sources in the original language? Most of her bibliograhic sources are biographies written during the 19th and early 20th centuries, when Marie Antoinette hagiography was peaking. It's still going strong, but there have also been scholarly examinations. Antonia Fraser's biography (as an example) is not cited. There are so many historical howlers and naive conclusions in the areas in which I have a strong knowledge background that my confidence in what Goldstone puts forth about people and events I don't was quickly eroded. I am also not entirely sure why Madame de Pompadour and Emma Hamilton come off better than DuBarry. Unlike Pompadour, DuBarry never caused France's involvement in a debilitating war, and both Hamilton and DuBarry were prostitutes before they were mistresses. Again, Goldstone likes two of the ladies but not the third.
We need a new biography of Maria Theresa based upon primary sources, and as part of it a far more intelligent evaluation of the role her children played on the European stage during the 18th century. This book isn't it.
October 4, 2021
I wanted to like this book. I really really did. It has the hallmarks to be an amazing story with so much drama set in a magnificent time period. To an extent this book achieves that, it's entertaining, fun, and easy to read.
Unfortunately, this book has a fatal flaw. It's mainly its speculative nature in regards to Marie Antionette & her relationship with Count Axel von Fersen. Did she have an affair with Fersen? Possibly, I would border on probably in my opinion based on my own research. Did he father her last two children? Again, it's possible, but highly unlikely.
The issue comes as the author assumes both of these items are true. To the point where the genealogical tables in the beginning place Fersen as the father of her last two children. She provides no evidence of this besides mere speculation. If someone is to make the claim this large it needs to be backed up with sources, evidence, etc. Yet there is little to none of this. In a non-fiction biography this is just reckless and really tanked the rating of the book.
Which is a shame. I love Goldstones previous books. The Rival Queens is one of my favorite books of all time. So this leaves me disappointed. Even more so as the rest of the book is accurate in most things, coming from someone whose done research on this time period, this book does the story well. But I can not rate it higher due to this recklessness. If she backed up her claims with evidence it would be different. That's why I have to rate this 2 stars with a heavy heart.
Unfortunately, this book has a fatal flaw. It's mainly its speculative nature in regards to Marie Antionette & her relationship with Count Axel von Fersen. Did she have an affair with Fersen? Possibly, I would border on probably in my opinion based on my own research. Did he father her last two children? Again, it's possible, but highly unlikely.
The issue comes as the author assumes both of these items are true. To the point where the genealogical tables in the beginning place Fersen as the father of her last two children. She provides no evidence of this besides mere speculation. If someone is to make the claim this large it needs to be backed up with sources, evidence, etc. Yet there is little to none of this. In a non-fiction biography this is just reckless and really tanked the rating of the book.
Which is a shame. I love Goldstones previous books. The Rival Queens is one of my favorite books of all time. So this leaves me disappointed. Even more so as the rest of the book is accurate in most things, coming from someone whose done research on this time period, this book does the story well. But I can not rate it higher due to this recklessness. If she backed up her claims with evidence it would be different. That's why I have to rate this 2 stars with a heavy heart.
November 19, 2022
It was relatively interesting to realize how Maria Theresa’s children played such large historical parts in modern European history. Well, I knew about Marie Antoinette. However, I think the book would have been better if it had focused on only one of the four women. Moving between four subjects is a bit awkward. And certainly most people won’t really need a recap of Antoinette’s life and, spoiler alert, death. The book is very readable and sometimes sensational or at least defiantly non-academic.
October 22, 2021
2 Stars
Snarky but baseless and inaccurate
Previous Nancy Goldstone books I've quite enjoyed for several reasons: easy-to-understand writing, enthralling subjects, and I love her witty notes (she's right - there's no originality in royal names).
However, while I appreciated the humor and side comments, and while I enjoyed Maria Theresa's tale, along with her daughters, Maria Christina and Maria Carolina, the author's assumption that Fersen was the father of two of Marie Antionette's children is absurd and not based on historical fact. If anything, it's based on the author's own opinions and theories.
While I, perhaps unfortunately, have to take the author's words for the former three ladies, I have done a fair amount of reading on Marie Antionette and can say with confidence that Fersen fathering any children off Marie Antionette is only gossip and hearsay, and quite frankly - absurd. Even the queen's contemporaries were certain that Louis XVI was the father of all their children.
Moreover, I disliked how she breezed through the lives of these remarkable women. Perhaps Goldstone needed to meet a deadline, or perhaps there wasn't enough material she could add (which explains the rather odd addition of Emma, Lady Hamilton's life tale), or maybe she just wanted to finish writing and didn't care about the final outcome, but whatever it was, the book felt rushed.
Basically, due to the aforementioned reasons above, overall In the Shadow of the Empress: The Defiant Lives of Maria Theresa, Mother of Marie Antoinette, and Her Daughters is definitely a disappointment.
Snarky but baseless and inaccurate
Previous Nancy Goldstone books I've quite enjoyed for several reasons: easy-to-understand writing, enthralling subjects, and I love her witty notes (she's right - there's no originality in royal names).
However, while I appreciated the humor and side comments, and while I enjoyed Maria Theresa's tale, along with her daughters, Maria Christina and Maria Carolina, the author's assumption that Fersen was the father of two of Marie Antionette's children is absurd and not based on historical fact. If anything, it's based on the author's own opinions and theories.
While I, perhaps unfortunately, have to take the author's words for the former three ladies, I have done a fair amount of reading on Marie Antionette and can say with confidence that Fersen fathering any children off Marie Antionette is only gossip and hearsay, and quite frankly - absurd. Even the queen's contemporaries were certain that Louis XVI was the father of all their children.
Moreover, I disliked how she breezed through the lives of these remarkable women. Perhaps Goldstone needed to meet a deadline, or perhaps there wasn't enough material she could add (which explains the rather odd addition of Emma, Lady Hamilton's life tale), or maybe she just wanted to finish writing and didn't care about the final outcome, but whatever it was, the book felt rushed.
Basically, due to the aforementioned reasons above, overall In the Shadow of the Empress: The Defiant Lives of Maria Theresa, Mother of Marie Antoinette, and Her Daughters is definitely a disappointment.
September 17, 2023
DNF.
Advertised as well-researched, but glaring inaccuracies right from the start. I like historical fiction, I do not like historical fiction pretending to be factual.
Advertised as well-researched, but glaring inaccuracies right from the start. I like historical fiction, I do not like historical fiction pretending to be factual.
did-not-finish
March 30, 2024Not sure I have ever DNFed a biography during the family tree before, but I cannot in good conscience take a book that definitively claims that two of Marie Antoinette's children were fathered by Fersen seriously. It could have have happened! But like. That's a bold, completely unproveable claim.
November 19, 2022
I am generously giving this one star based on its relatively good narrative quality and some of the things I learned about MT's daughters not named Marie Antoinette.
Many other critical reviewers have mentioned the total wrongness of her claim that Axel Ferson was the father of the second Dauphin, Louis-Charles, and how she's either incredibly ignorant or an incredible liar about DNA testing related to this.
For me, the book went wrong from the start. Literally, on page 1.
I'm going to add one thing that no critical reviewer of the several I grokked has mentioned and that will lead my review.
And, that is, how do you discuss the Austrian and imperial history, in reverse chronological order, of Maria Theresa, her father and her uncle while NOWHERE mentioning Salian succession law, which is what led to the succession order and the outcry over the Pragmatic Sanction (before suitable bribery) in the first place? That right there cost the book a full star.
Beyond the Pragmatic Sanction, this plays out in how such describes the crowning of Francis of Lorraine as Holy Roman Emperor. Goldstone makes it look like MT had enough crowns as ruling queen of Hungary and Bohemia and wanted him to have one, rather than telling us that Holy Roman Empresses were not allowed!
The claims about Fersen cost a second star, especially since refuted by DNA analysis and also since Louis XVI's calendars etc., all show he was with Marie Antoinette during normal conception timeframes.
Rampant speculation about Louis XVI as autistic, getting things wrong about the consummation of his marriage, and more, also cost a star.
But wait, that's not all.
Frederick the Great was King IN Prussia until after the First Partition of Poland. She gets his title wrong. With her "defiant lives" subheader, she sneers at him as a person, as well as psychologizing it's all about his dad, about whom she then goes on to speculate was also gay.
As one other reviewer notes, it's sad that for decades before this, there was no MT biography in English. It's sad that there still isn't a real one for decades.
And, with that, Goldstone has gotten herself on my "do not read" list. I five-starred her "Daughters of the Winter Queen" and am now wondering what I missed there.
Many other critical reviewers have mentioned the total wrongness of her claim that Axel Ferson was the father of the second Dauphin, Louis-Charles, and how she's either incredibly ignorant or an incredible liar about DNA testing related to this.
For me, the book went wrong from the start. Literally, on page 1.
I'm going to add one thing that no critical reviewer of the several I grokked has mentioned and that will lead my review.
And, that is, how do you discuss the Austrian and imperial history, in reverse chronological order, of Maria Theresa, her father and her uncle while NOWHERE mentioning Salian succession law, which is what led to the succession order and the outcry over the Pragmatic Sanction (before suitable bribery) in the first place? That right there cost the book a full star.
Beyond the Pragmatic Sanction, this plays out in how such describes the crowning of Francis of Lorraine as Holy Roman Emperor. Goldstone makes it look like MT had enough crowns as ruling queen of Hungary and Bohemia and wanted him to have one, rather than telling us that Holy Roman Empresses were not allowed!
The claims about Fersen cost a second star, especially since refuted by DNA analysis and also since Louis XVI's calendars etc., all show he was with Marie Antoinette during normal conception timeframes.
Rampant speculation about Louis XVI as autistic, getting things wrong about the consummation of his marriage, and more, also cost a star.
But wait, that's not all.
Frederick the Great was King IN Prussia until after the First Partition of Poland. She gets his title wrong. With her "defiant lives" subheader, she sneers at him as a person, as well as psychologizing it's all about his dad, about whom she then goes on to speculate was also gay.
As one other reviewer notes, it's sad that for decades before this, there was no MT biography in English. It's sad that there still isn't a real one for decades.
And, with that, Goldstone has gotten herself on my "do not read" list. I five-starred her "Daughters of the Winter Queen" and am now wondering what I missed there.
Read
December 2, 2021I really enjoyed reading this book, but I can’t recommend it. The author makes some significant historical claims that just are not supported by convincing evidence. She also makes some statements of fact that I believe are incorrect, although maybe that’s just an editing issue. I really like the idea of focusing on Marie Therese and three of her daughters. So often women are left out of or marginalized in the history books, and we are left with only the sometimes salacious or malicious rumors that were circulated about them during their lifetimes. But I feel that if you are going to write the history of these women, you have an obligation to do it with sound historical reasoning and evidence, and I don’t think this book does that.
September 25, 2023
Nancy Goldstone, a skilled writer, has chosen to blend historical fact with embellishments for dramatic effect. However, her author's notes raise concerns about the accuracy of her research methodology. Seeking modern medical opinions and waiting for a diagnosis of autism hardly qualifies as thorough historical investigation. This is just one instance where Goldstone appears to manipulate the historical narrative.
One of Goldstone's contentions is that Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI had only two legitimate children, dismissing the others as illegitimate based solely on rumor. Had Goldstone delved deeper into research, she would have encountered the consensus among historians that there is no substantial evidence supporting an affair between Marie Antoinette and the Swedish count, Fersen. It's well-documented that the French royal family lived under constant surveillance, making it highly improbable, as most historians assert, for Marie Antoinette to have conducted such an affair without detection. This is just one of Maria Theresa's children that Goldstone chooses to portray with falsehoods and inaccuracies.
A historian's primary duty is to present the unvarnished facts. The women featured in this book are among the most prominent and extensively documented figures in European history. Goldstone's reliance on tabloid gossip at times blurs the line between conjecture and established truth.
One of Goldstone's contentions is that Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI had only two legitimate children, dismissing the others as illegitimate based solely on rumor. Had Goldstone delved deeper into research, she would have encountered the consensus among historians that there is no substantial evidence supporting an affair between Marie Antoinette and the Swedish count, Fersen. It's well-documented that the French royal family lived under constant surveillance, making it highly improbable, as most historians assert, for Marie Antoinette to have conducted such an affair without detection. This is just one of Maria Theresa's children that Goldstone chooses to portray with falsehoods and inaccuracies.
A historian's primary duty is to present the unvarnished facts. The women featured in this book are among the most prominent and extensively documented figures in European history. Goldstone's reliance on tabloid gossip at times blurs the line between conjecture and established truth.
September 12, 2022
This is a ridiculously bad book. Having wasted way to much time I will never get back on this farago of what, at the most polite, can be called speculative history, I have no intention of wasting more time listing the stupidities of this so called history. It is a very bad history. If you want to know about Marie Carolina of Naples Harold Acton's Bourbons of Naples, is not only beautifully written but still an excellent history despite how long ago it was written. The same can be said about Edward Crankshaw's biography of Marie Theresa, fifty years old but a superb biography and like all decent histories, academic or popular, not mentioned in Ms. Goldstone's bibliography. But there is no need to waste time or money reading or acquiring this so called biography. The finest biography of Marie Theresa was written by Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger was published in German in 2017 and in English in 2022. Read any of these - just don't waste time on this tosch.
December 17, 2023
Would have been five stars for its gripping and expansive look at Europe during their reigns. But I find it hard to fully get past Goldstone's constant snipes at the French Revolution and its supposedly unforgiveable violence when she fully admits that the monarchy had, for centuries, bled the country dry. Absolutely worth a read though.
October 11, 2021
IN THE SHADOW OF THE EMPRESS is an impressive and entertaining book that traverses time and the map of Europe, following the lives of four extraordinary women: Empress Maria Theresa and her three daughters: Maria Christina, Maria Carolina and Marie Antoinette. Nancy Goldstone covers large swaths of history and in the process brings readers into contact with Frederick the Great, Lord Nelson, Napoleon and many more European luminaries.
Arriving at the start of the 18th century, Maria Theresa was a woman born to destiny. Sitting atop the Habsburg Empire, she bore 16 children, 10 of whom lived to adulthood. Goldstone does a great job of illustrating what this means to an imperial dynasty: marriages of alliance for the defense and growth of the empire. The modern reader may be excused for believing that Maria Theresa, given the existential problems she faced, spent an inordinate amount of time and energy marrying her children in the interest of her empire. In the 1700s, however, these efforts were seen as a solution, not a diversion.
With so many children to “place,” Maria Theresa was a matchmaker par excellence. Marrying them to enemies or trading pieces of property here and there was always about the family. On one page the family would speak of the love their people had for them. Next, when faced with invasion, they were loading ships filled with jewels and clothes --- all personal belongings --- in what can only be seen as selfish and self-serving. Even the child-rearing dynamic was aimed at furthering the dynasty, with children slotted for either a kingdom or the convent.
Perhaps my favorite parts of the book are the challenges that the Empress and her daughters confronted for their survival. While over a lifetime there were many, some stand out as imperative. For Maria Theresa it was Frederick and the rise of the Prussian nation. It was Napoleon for Maria Carolina, the French Revolution for Marie Antoinette, and for poor Maria Christina it was, sadly, her brother Joseph.
Goldstone makes it clear that Maria Theresa fixed upon Frederick early as the most grave threat to her empire. She notes that the Empress “identified the king of Prussia as her mortal enemy and was keenly aware that he would take advantage of any misstep, any lapse in vigilance or downturn in fortune to strike again. She was determined to thwart him and reclaim Silesia.”
While her fight with Frederick was not her only battle, Goldstone uses this relationship to flesh out all that was compelling about the Empress. When Prussia took Silesia, instead of capitulating as she was pressured to do, Maria Theresa went against her advisors and gambled on the unruly and unpredictable Hungarians. She traveled to Pressburg and participated in a grueling coronation ceremony that is well worth the read. So when most of Europe was aligned against Austria and preparing an attack on Vienna, the fearsome Hungarians came to her defense.
Buffeted on all sides, winning and losing in the constant roil of battle, the Empress fought tooth and nail to maintain her lands when many advised surrender. She insisted that courage was needed, and now was a time of sacrifice. With great finality, she exclaimed, “You will say that I am cruel, and it is true...but at this moment I close my heart to pity.” The young woman, who ascended the throne at the tender age of 23 (while pregnant), was sending a clear message to the king of Prussia --- she was not just another petticoat.
IN THE SHADOW OF THE EMPRESS is a compelling read. Using Maria Theresa as a familial anchor point was a brilliant idea. Through these four women, readers are treated to a Forrest Gump-like journey through one of the most dynamic periods of European history. With such a storied family, one can only hope that a sequel is in the works.
Reviewed by John Vena
Arriving at the start of the 18th century, Maria Theresa was a woman born to destiny. Sitting atop the Habsburg Empire, she bore 16 children, 10 of whom lived to adulthood. Goldstone does a great job of illustrating what this means to an imperial dynasty: marriages of alliance for the defense and growth of the empire. The modern reader may be excused for believing that Maria Theresa, given the existential problems she faced, spent an inordinate amount of time and energy marrying her children in the interest of her empire. In the 1700s, however, these efforts were seen as a solution, not a diversion.
With so many children to “place,” Maria Theresa was a matchmaker par excellence. Marrying them to enemies or trading pieces of property here and there was always about the family. On one page the family would speak of the love their people had for them. Next, when faced with invasion, they were loading ships filled with jewels and clothes --- all personal belongings --- in what can only be seen as selfish and self-serving. Even the child-rearing dynamic was aimed at furthering the dynasty, with children slotted for either a kingdom or the convent.
Perhaps my favorite parts of the book are the challenges that the Empress and her daughters confronted for their survival. While over a lifetime there were many, some stand out as imperative. For Maria Theresa it was Frederick and the rise of the Prussian nation. It was Napoleon for Maria Carolina, the French Revolution for Marie Antoinette, and for poor Maria Christina it was, sadly, her brother Joseph.
Goldstone makes it clear that Maria Theresa fixed upon Frederick early as the most grave threat to her empire. She notes that the Empress “identified the king of Prussia as her mortal enemy and was keenly aware that he would take advantage of any misstep, any lapse in vigilance or downturn in fortune to strike again. She was determined to thwart him and reclaim Silesia.”
While her fight with Frederick was not her only battle, Goldstone uses this relationship to flesh out all that was compelling about the Empress. When Prussia took Silesia, instead of capitulating as she was pressured to do, Maria Theresa went against her advisors and gambled on the unruly and unpredictable Hungarians. She traveled to Pressburg and participated in a grueling coronation ceremony that is well worth the read. So when most of Europe was aligned against Austria and preparing an attack on Vienna, the fearsome Hungarians came to her defense.
Buffeted on all sides, winning and losing in the constant roil of battle, the Empress fought tooth and nail to maintain her lands when many advised surrender. She insisted that courage was needed, and now was a time of sacrifice. With great finality, she exclaimed, “You will say that I am cruel, and it is true...but at this moment I close my heart to pity.” The young woman, who ascended the throne at the tender age of 23 (while pregnant), was sending a clear message to the king of Prussia --- she was not just another petticoat.
IN THE SHADOW OF THE EMPRESS is a compelling read. Using Maria Theresa as a familial anchor point was a brilliant idea. Through these four women, readers are treated to a Forrest Gump-like journey through one of the most dynamic periods of European history. With such a storied family, one can only hope that a sequel is in the works.
Reviewed by John Vena
July 29, 2021
The vibrant, sprawling saga of Empress Maria Theresa—one of the most renowned women rulers in history—and three of her extraordinary daughters, including Marie Antoinette, the doomed queen of France.
That is the blurb on this very interesting look at this Empress and her daughters. And with Nancy Goldstone as the author, I knew this would be good. She has such a way of making Non-Fiction read like the best story you can imagine. Never dull or dry. I adored this book.
This is the story of eighteenth-century Maria Theresa, a strong woman who ruled the entire Habsburg Empire. We also learn about her daughters, who were also strong rulers in their own right. The Governor-General of the Austrian Netherlands, Maria Christina. Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples, and of course, Marie Antoinette, Queen of France and the one you have probably heard the most about.
But all of them were extraordinary. The imagery of the royal courts is well done. The research put into this book is astounding. Reading this was a history lesson inside a story. A story of hope, desire, betrayal, and every hardship one could imagine.
This is one I shall keep and share for a long time.
NetGalley/ September 21st, 2021 by Little, Brown, and Company
Tagged
That is the blurb on this very interesting look at this Empress and her daughters. And with Nancy Goldstone as the author, I knew this would be good. She has such a way of making Non-Fiction read like the best story you can imagine. Never dull or dry. I adored this book.
This is the story of eighteenth-century Maria Theresa, a strong woman who ruled the entire Habsburg Empire. We also learn about her daughters, who were also strong rulers in their own right. The Governor-General of the Austrian Netherlands, Maria Christina. Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples, and of course, Marie Antoinette, Queen of France and the one you have probably heard the most about.
But all of them were extraordinary. The imagery of the royal courts is well done. The research put into this book is astounding. Reading this was a history lesson inside a story. A story of hope, desire, betrayal, and every hardship one could imagine.
This is one I shall keep and share for a long time.
NetGalley/ September 21st, 2021 by Little, Brown, and Company
Tagged
October 18, 2021
An epic...and one that flows like crystal clear water, thanks to Nancy Goldstone's effortless writing style. It's been a long time since I read a book that juggles so many characters successfully. Not one of the extraordinary women in this volume are given short shrift, and any number of supporting characters have their time in the sun. It manages to be concise yet span over a century of material as if it were just a week's worth of stories. A book to read if you want to experience a kick-ass family of female royalty who took charge of their destinies with a resolute force that put all the men around them to shame.
November 29, 2021
I found this to be a very interesting read on Maria Theresa of Austria and several of her highly influential children, including Marie Antoinette. Lots of humanizing information about them, not merely dry historical detail. If done properly this could the basis for a good "prestigious" limited TV series! I am holding back on giving 5 stars because I've seen some reviews questioning some of the book's accuracy especially about whether Marie Antoinette had an affair with and children by Count Fersen of Sweden, but it does seem obvious there was an affair of some kind, unless the author has totally fabricated letters between the 2 (or they were forged). Also the author speculates that Louis XVI was autistic, but it is not totally clear that he was and very hard to diagnose 250 years later, although he seems at least to have been very socially anxious and emotionally withdrawn.
December 10, 2021
Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for the opportunity to read In the Shadow of the Empress and provide an honest review.
Nancy Goldstone is an enormously gifted writer who continues to bring history to life in her latest treasure, In the Shadow of the Empress. Those who have read Goldstone's works previously know that she enlivens the text of her exhaustive research with insightful asides and quips, resulting in an immensely enjoyable reading experience. I live for her footnotes! There is an enormous amount of history covered within the pages and even though I have read portions of these stories many times, Goldstone's retelling is fresh and inspired.
Nancy Goldstone is an enormously gifted writer who continues to bring history to life in her latest treasure, In the Shadow of the Empress. Those who have read Goldstone's works previously know that she enlivens the text of her exhaustive research with insightful asides and quips, resulting in an immensely enjoyable reading experience. I live for her footnotes! There is an enormous amount of history covered within the pages and even though I have read portions of these stories many times, Goldstone's retelling is fresh and inspired.
December 2, 2021
Excellently-researched and detailed book about Maria Theresa and three of her more prominent daughters. I had read many books about Marie Antoinette, but none about Maria Theresa, Maria Christina (Mimi), or Maria Carolina (Charlotte). I liked that the feisty Emma Hamilton even showed up in the history. However, at the end of the book, I felt rather sad because various and continuous wars took up so much of the women's lives.
May 14, 2022
A lot of reviewers are right; Goldstone casually cites rumors, guesses, and 20th Century armchair psychology as fact. It’s often entertaining, but you know it’s bad history.
January 14, 2024
One of the most readable and engaging biographies I've ever read, and certainly ambitious in its intentions to cover the lives of .... pretty much the entire litter (admittedly, three/four more than others) of children born to Maria Theresa, as well as the Empress herself.
I very much enjoyed it - not just for how readable and entertaining the authorial tone is, but also for the author's clear investment in the period, and admirable transparency about her own biases (which sounds backhanded - but actually I've read so many history books with bias just as bad or worse where the author constantly strives to present their truth as objective and completely unbiased that this is a genuine point in the text and author's favour).
There is, however, an absolute metric ton of the aforementioned bias - from the ones everyone knows (mostly about Marie Antoinette), to several more obscure ones that would be pretty believable without extensive research or prior contrary knowledge. I'm also not entirely comfortable with the way Goldstone tosses about diagnostic terms - she diagnoses Louis XVI with autism and acts as if this is indisputable, and a couple of throwaway jokes about Ritalin in the context of Marie Antoinette lead me to believe she was perhaps a couple of inches from giving the queen ADHD to match. These could, potentially, be credible suppositions or ideas that could be explored in interesting ways by historians or psychologists, but I don't like the way they're treated as fact (along with all the other aforementioned bias and rumours-as-truth), especially in the way these are positioned in the critical analysis of the subjects, or the things it infers about their potentially less sympathetic or more scandalous incidents.
That said, I'm a hobbyist / wandering historical enthusiast at best, and every single historical book about any historical figure ever is going to have a bias to it. It's not the best of biographies in terms of its factual basis or credibility, but Goldstone deserves credit for choosing women who often go overlooked or outright villainised by history and deciding that they too deserve their turn in the spotlight of accessible historical reading. Anne Boleyn alone has enough of these sorts of books by herself, it's time someone else got a look in.
Don't read it if you're here to demand accuracy. But if you already know enough about the period and the people to spot the bias and the rumours, but not enough that you'd be bored by repetition, I'd definitely recommend it for being genuinely enjoyable.
I very much enjoyed it - not just for how readable and entertaining the authorial tone is, but also for the author's clear investment in the period, and admirable transparency about her own biases (which sounds backhanded - but actually I've read so many history books with bias just as bad or worse where the author constantly strives to present their truth as objective and completely unbiased that this is a genuine point in the text and author's favour).
There is, however, an absolute metric ton of the aforementioned bias - from the ones everyone knows (mostly about Marie Antoinette), to several more obscure ones that would be pretty believable without extensive research or prior contrary knowledge. I'm also not entirely comfortable with the way Goldstone tosses about diagnostic terms - she diagnoses Louis XVI with autism and acts as if this is indisputable, and a couple of throwaway jokes about Ritalin in the context of Marie Antoinette lead me to believe she was perhaps a couple of inches from giving the queen ADHD to match. These could, potentially, be credible suppositions or ideas that could be explored in interesting ways by historians or psychologists, but I don't like the way they're treated as fact (along with all the other aforementioned bias and rumours-as-truth), especially in the way these are positioned in the critical analysis of the subjects, or the things it infers about their potentially less sympathetic or more scandalous incidents.
That said, I'm a hobbyist / wandering historical enthusiast at best, and every single historical book about any historical figure ever is going to have a bias to it. It's not the best of biographies in terms of its factual basis or credibility, but Goldstone deserves credit for choosing women who often go overlooked or outright villainised by history and deciding that they too deserve their turn in the spotlight of accessible historical reading. Anne Boleyn alone has enough of these sorts of books by herself, it's time someone else got a look in.
Don't read it if you're here to demand accuracy. But if you already know enough about the period and the people to spot the bias and the rumours, but not enough that you'd be bored by repetition, I'd definitely recommend it for being genuinely enjoyable.
July 28, 2025
“In the Shadow of the Empress: The Defiant Lives of Matia Theresa, Mother of Marie Antoinette, and her Daughters” by Nancy Goldstone ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“In the Shadow of the Empress” chronicles the life of Maria Theresa, Holy Roman Empress, and her daughters Maria Christina, Maria Carolina and Marie Antoinette during the 18th and early 19th century.
I just have to start off by saying that this book was brilliant. I’m actually pleasantly surprised that it was THIS good. I thought a passing general 4 would be fine but no. Goldstone’s writing is impeccable. She gives you the facts as the evidence suggests, backs them up while sliding in her own commentary about the state of affairs back then and how they connect to now. It was brilliant.
I’ve always been aware of Maria Theresa and her greatness. She’s one of the many incredible female rulers that I knew a little bit about but not a whole lot. Britain has and will always be my focus, but the further I get from Uni, the more I’ve been willing to explore outside of my area of expertise on the sole purpose of just wanting to know more. And I definitely got that here.
Unlike her mother, I knew a lot about Marie Antoinette. But putting her into context with not only her mother, but her sisters as well, allows me to look differently upon her and her situation than I previously had in a marriott of ways. But I can safely say that her closest sister, Maria Carolina, was my favorite to follow (her relationship to Emma Hamilton and Admiral Nelson not with standing). These insanely powerful women lived incredibly different lives and it was a pleasure to follow them along as their stories were unfolding.
“In the Shadow of the Empress” chronicles the life of Maria Theresa, Holy Roman Empress, and her daughters Maria Christina, Maria Carolina and Marie Antoinette during the 18th and early 19th century.
I just have to start off by saying that this book was brilliant. I’m actually pleasantly surprised that it was THIS good. I thought a passing general 4 would be fine but no. Goldstone’s writing is impeccable. She gives you the facts as the evidence suggests, backs them up while sliding in her own commentary about the state of affairs back then and how they connect to now. It was brilliant.
I’ve always been aware of Maria Theresa and her greatness. She’s one of the many incredible female rulers that I knew a little bit about but not a whole lot. Britain has and will always be my focus, but the further I get from Uni, the more I’ve been willing to explore outside of my area of expertise on the sole purpose of just wanting to know more. And I definitely got that here.
Unlike her mother, I knew a lot about Marie Antoinette. But putting her into context with not only her mother, but her sisters as well, allows me to look differently upon her and her situation than I previously had in a marriott of ways. But I can safely say that her closest sister, Maria Carolina, was my favorite to follow (her relationship to Emma Hamilton and Admiral Nelson not with standing). These insanely powerful women lived incredibly different lives and it was a pleasure to follow them along as their stories were unfolding.
February 21, 2025
This was a well written, and exceptionally fun, historical account of Maria Theresa and three of her daughters.
I wanted to give it four stars, but I can't. That's because Nancy Goldstone asserts that two of Marie Antoinette's children were sired by Count Axel von Fersen as historical fact. However, this is speculation, and feels academically dishonest.
Now I'm not a (an?) historian, but I've never seen definitive evidence that Louis Charles and Sophie were fathered by Fersen. As far as I can tell, the only "source" for this assertion is a poorly-received work of popular history by Evelyn Farr. Even Marie Antoinette's affair with Fersen is speculative. Given his status at court and the surviving correspondence between him and the Queen, it does seem likely that they were involved romantically, but the evidence isn't definitive.
Anyway, as a casual reader I don't mind Goldstone editorializing in the footnotes. But I find baseless claims to be intellectually unethical. And I think it's particularly important to combat misinformation during these obnoxiously interesting times in which we live.
To end on a high note, Maria Carolina is one of the most interesting historical figures I never learned about in school.
I wanted to give it four stars, but I can't. That's because Nancy Goldstone asserts that two of Marie Antoinette's children were sired by Count Axel von Fersen as historical fact. However, this is speculation, and feels academically dishonest.
Now I'm not a (an?) historian, but I've never seen definitive evidence that Louis Charles and Sophie were fathered by Fersen. As far as I can tell, the only "source" for this assertion is a poorly-received work of popular history by Evelyn Farr. Even Marie Antoinette's affair with Fersen is speculative. Given his status at court and the surviving correspondence between him and the Queen, it does seem likely that they were involved romantically, but the evidence isn't definitive.
Anyway, as a casual reader I don't mind Goldstone editorializing in the footnotes. But I find baseless claims to be intellectually unethical. And I think it's particularly important to combat misinformation during these obnoxiously interesting times in which we live.
To end on a high note, Maria Carolina is one of the most interesting historical figures I never learned about in school.
November 25, 2022
A fascinating historical account of Maria Theresa (the ruler of Hubsberg dominions from 1740s-1780) and her children, focus mainly on her three famous daughters: Maria Christina, Maria Carolina, and Maria Antoinette. Maria Theresa was a flawed ruler and mother but I really admire her courage and foresight during the course of her long reign. Her three daughters (Maria Christina, Maria Carolina, and Maria Antoinette) couldn't be more different in term of temperament and the way of life, but all three met with some form of sad endings.
I enjoyed bits of history of Frederick the Great of Prussia, Lady Emma Hamilton, Lord Nelson, Count von Fersen, Louis XVI and his unfortunate children and sister Elisabeth, etc. Moreover, I think I now have a broader understanding of how the ideals of Enlightenment affected European empires during the 18th century.
Not so historically accurate in some parts or not, I didn't know and I still don't know for sure. But I liked the book's subject-matter and how the author handled it with such light touch.
I enjoyed bits of history of Frederick the Great of Prussia, Lady Emma Hamilton, Lord Nelson, Count von Fersen, Louis XVI and his unfortunate children and sister Elisabeth, etc. Moreover, I think I now have a broader understanding of how the ideals of Enlightenment affected European empires during the 18th century.
Not so historically accurate in some parts or not, I didn't know and I still don't know for sure. But I liked the book's subject-matter and how the author handled it with such light touch.
Read
January 24, 2022I don’t usually read much nonfiction, but I enjoyed this. Goldstone pulls together the complicated threads of the Hapsburgs (and their many children…seemingly all named Maria) and these strong women who played an integral role in 18th century Europe. Its not a period I know a ton about, and I enjoyed learning more. (The is clearly a popular history - it skims over a lot and makes grand claims about motivations etc that I suspect serve the story she's weaving; if you're looking for deep nuance, this isn't it.)
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