Our lady of the potatoes

by Duncan Sprott

An examination of 18th-century France through the eyes of Marie-Louise Murphy, an Irish adventuress who gets caught up in the dramas of revolution and the Age of Enlightenment. She becomes the mistress of Louis XV and narrowly escapes death at the hands of the revolutionaries in 1789.

Genres: Historical Fiction, French Revolution, Historical, Fiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Duncan Sprott is the author of The Clopton Hercules and Our Lady of the Potatoes, both historical reconstructions, published in the United Kingdom. He lives in Ireland.

Reviews

[Amanda Whitehouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fictionalised account of a real historical figure Marie Louise Murphy who featured in a famous painting and became briefly a mistress of king Louis XV of France. From a rough, but opportunistic Irish family, this documents Marie Louise's humble Irish origins and gradual ascent to becoming the King's mistress, marrying into aristocracy, accumulating wealth and living the life of an aristocrat.

This is an enjoyable, interesting read, wrote in a Lyrical and at times whimsical style. The descriptions of Irish customs, poverty and squalor, juxtaposed against Versailles, indulgence and aristocratic decadence ( although there is no escaping the stench of Versailles either) really immersed me into the historical time period. There are also some vivid, brutal descriptions of the cruelty of life at court and the violence of revolution

Marie Louise spends her life pretending to be an aristocrat and accumulating wealth until the Revolution comes then she desperately reclaims her humble beginnings and tries to hide her wealth, but ironically no one believes her. I enjoyed reading about Marie Louise's colourful yet at times hard life and how she survived into old age. Overall I found this a fascinating insight into a fascinating period of French history.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a wonderful surprise! Written in a very different way from your usual historical fiction. I guess it had a more fiction viewpoint, you were inside Louise O'Murphy's head but the view was also the author's and other characters...such an artistically written view!!! Recommended!

[Delphine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written, the story of Marie-Louise Murphy, mistress of Louis XV, kept at the Parc aux Cerfs, well away from the Court. A real talent for creating characters and for recreating the atmosphere of 18th century France. Beautiful and witty style, worthy of 18th century humour.

Attention, petit bijou en vue. Les aventures de Marie-Louise O'Murphy, maîtresse de Louis XV (surnommée la Petite - ou la Belle - Morphise et immortalisée par Boucher dans le tableau qui sert de couverture à ce roman). Elle fut enfermée dans le Parc aux Cerfs jusqu'au jour où le Roi, lassé d'elle et fâché par les tentatives de sa maîtresse d'évincer Madame de Pompadour, la maria à Jacques de Beaufranchet et l'envoya vivre en Auvergne.

Duncan Sprott ne manque pas de talent lorsqu'il décrit la famille irlandaise de cette jeune femme, leurs superstitions, leurs façons de faire fortune, leurs folie personnelle. Paradoxalement, le passage sur le Parc aux Cerfs n'est pas le plus intéressant, mais les périodes avant et après sont absolument jouissives.

Un beau style, enlevé, plein de joie de vivre et d'humour. Bravo! Un roman à ne pas manquer.

[Katharine Ott · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Our Lady of the Potatoes" - written by Duncan Sprott and published in 1995 by Faber and Faber Limited. This was another book that was hard to track down, but the title and the setting around French Revolutionary times encouraged me. Marie-Louise Murphy's early life is briefly described, full of the family's strong Irish superstitions and traditions which they try to sustain living in France. "She crushed her empty eggshells with the heel of a shoe so that the fairies could not turn them into boats." The daughters are mostly put into genteel prostitution and Marie-Louise comes to the attention of Louis XV, becoming his mistress. The story portrays her life amidst the excesses of the court and their wealthy followers, and the poverty and filth of the lower classes. The details were not pretty, but likely a fact of life at the time. It was an interesting read and I'm glad I didn't live it.

[Marlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful from-rags-to-riches tale of Marie-Louise Murphy, a mistress to King Louis XV of France. It follows her story from her grandparents arrival in France to her own death. There is so much historical information in this book and the times were quite fascinating. It covers the life and death of her children, born of several different fathers. It follows her through the Revolution. Times were hard. The author's style was very enjoyable reading for me. I think he did a terrific job of writing this book.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a lovely book.
I wanted to learn more about Louise O'Murphy, mistress of Louis XV, and this book certainly did the trick. I learned in the most pleasant way, all the history of Louise, and the story grew into an emotional page turner, after being a little slow to start with, due to the background story. Well worth a read. Loved it, on so many levels.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Historical fiction: loved this book due to history as well as the way it was written.

Very Irish & French. Beautifully written, complete with the tragic & comic wrapped up nicely together. Paris & the French revolution happens in the back ground.

[ErinAlise · Rating 5 out of 5]

All that she had amounted to came crashing down. She would have to become that dirty little girl, who’s father was a shoemaker and forget who she was, who she knew, in order to live in this new world.
At 13 Marie-Louise O’Murphy sat for a painter named Francois Boucher. She had been painted by him many times, but this time instead of painting the young girl in front of him, he painted a vision of what she would become. As the painting circulated throughout Paris, was passed from hand to hand it would finally end up in the hands of the King, and Marie-Louise would forever be changed. She would rise to mistress of the King, be wealthier than she ever imagined, even become a Comtesse, and all this would disappear when the revolutionaries came knocking on her door.
A real life Cinderella story with not the happy ending one would expect, but Marie-Louise certainly knew how to survive. She survived poverty, prejudice mistreatment, oppression, and was even wrongfully imprisoned, but through it all she endured. Though the horrors of the French Revolution surely changed her life and those around her, in the end she lived to the old age of 77 and was fondly remembered as that young girl in a painting titled “Resting Girl.”
I was looking for a different aspect on the French Revolution and this book clearly delivered. Well written, witty and just an all around excellent read! I loved it!

[Lisa Beth Hutchins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was recommended in an internet search for books about the French Revolution. It centers on Marie-Louise O'Murphy and her rise in France from a poor Irish immigrant to mistress to Louis XV and then follows her struggle to obtain title and then her struggle to survive through the French Revolution. It was well written and not gratuitous, given how depraved the people in Marie's world were. I learned a lot about the atmosphere in France and the causes and effects of the French Revolution through the eyes of a survivor. It was a page turner, though it lacks an overarching plot, because of the many and interesting characters.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Irish immigrant poses for a portrait and ends up becoming Louis XV's (one of...) mistress. Good fun to read.

[Aaloo · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars
really beautiful writing but failed to make me emotionally connect with the character.