Historical fiction is a genre I quite enjoy, but do not read all that often. Partially, I worry about getting real history and imagined history mixed up in my head. Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution are not amongst my historical interests either, so this is not a book I would have picked up under normal circumstances; I read this for a book club.

The Queen's Dollmaker was not a terrible book by any means, but it wasn't great either. The writing was good and the historical events in France seemed to follow the correct timeline. The story definitely was not a pageturner, and I had to resist the urge to skim. The real weakness here lies in the plot and the characters.

Claudette is strong for a woman of that time period; she works in trade unashamedly, will not marry solely for station, will not be a mistress, earns her enough money to support herself and her friends, and is possessed of some sass. Her love interest, William Greycliffe, seems a bit like a generic romance novel hero, only without the great sex. He is there for her, loves her unconditionally from his first look at her (despite the fact that he is a rising aristocrat and she is a servant) and saves her when the chips are down. He lacks substance, but he's okay. Jean-Phillipe lacks any sort of real character; he certainly has qualities, but all of his behavior does not really add up to one whole that I could make out.

My main gripe with the plot is that Claudette, a successful, happily engaged woman, has no need to go to visit Marie Antoinette in the middle of the revolution. Sure, she probably didn't know how bad things were, but she certainly knew they weren't good. She is too smart of a woman to think that's a good idea, especially after she decided she truly belongs in England. One other thing that really bothered me, because it, too, went against Claudette's character was her begging to a villain in an attempt to save herself from incarceration: "Please, I will become your lover if that is what you wish, but do not take me in there, in the name of our parents and all that has passed between us, please do not do this" (258). This just seemed completely unnecessary and unfair to her character.

Overall, a meh book. Not bad, but not really worth the time. I thought Jennifer Donnelly's Revolution did a better job with the French Revolution. ( )

I liked this book but I was also disappointed. It is well researched and easy to follow. The details about dollmaking very interesting and I was hungry for more. I wouldn't have minded information on the prior history of dollmaking and the advances made in this era.

The book opens with a chance meeting between Marie Antoinette and the main character Claudette Laurent when she was only five. That was a very sweet scene. Five years later, there is a terrible fire and I was riveted to the book for the details of how Claudette's great losses.

I couldn't truly understand why she went to England, why hadn't she statyed in France. There some intriguing scenes prior to the passage. Then the pace of the book started to slow down.

I enjoyed the portrayal of the women tremendously but the men were a problem. One main male character was mysterious at first and then unbelievably forgiving and sweet, the other male character under went a change that I could not understand. It is not enough for me that he came under the influence of Ropespierre. I wanted more about how this transformation came about. This would have also helped to explain how mobs came under Ropespierr'e spell and the monarchy was toppled.

So I did like this book but I would have enjoyed more energetic, faster paced writing in the middle and the end to keep me turning the pages. Also, it would have been alright to have more background on the a few topics mentioned above to get a better understanding of the event of the time periods of the evil male character. I also craved more about Marie Antionette and Claudette's dear friend Marie Groheltz.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in historical fiction. ( )

There are many positive reviews about Christine Trent's debut novel, and on websites and blogs which should know better, but after actually wasting time and money to read such an amateur and appallingly cliched story for myself, I can only assume that the author is better at marketing than writing.

The plot is Catherine Cookson on speed, cramming in personal tragedies and national events at a distracting rate, and the style is almost embarrassingly facile. After the first few chapters, I thought that maybe I had unwittingly bought a young adult novel, and was willing to put up with the modern dialogue and lack of character development. Thoroughly modern heroine Claudette, with her first love angst and lack of respect for authority, would probably appeal to adolescents, and the less than subtle chapters given over to simplifying the French Revolution are a canny way of sneaking history into unsuspecting young minds. But then I realised that not even YA novels are this naff, and the 'shocking' descriptions of Claudette's return to France would at least offend parents if not the kids.

So not even the intended demographic can excuse this novel, and I had such high hopes as well. I love reading about the French Revolution, and have tried everything from Dumas to DuMaurier, with all the contemporary pap in between, but nothing quite as poorly executed as The Queen's Dollmaker. Even aping Orczy's The Scarlet Pimpernel lets Mrs Trent down, humiliating her heroine as a 'damsel in distress' rather than the independent young woman of today's historical romances.

I did find it interesting to learn about the early manufacture of dolls, and the sympathetic representation of Marie Antoinette makes a refreshing change, but an essay on either subject (as indeed the chapters on the Revolution almost become) would have been far more entertaining than wading through a cast of flimsy characters and the formulaic conventions of romance novels. At one point, Claudette actually tells the hero: "You're an up and coming country gentleman without a care", and of course his 'kisses and masculine ways threatened to undo her'. Historical research is minimal, bar the technical manual on carving wood and moulding wax, and undermines the characters and story in places. The social-climbing Ashbys are more Victorian than Georgian, and Christine Trent seems to think that not only would servants be able to work all night and sleep for five hours, but being told what to do by the mistress of the house is equivalent to slave labour! The author - and her editor - are even conveniently vague about the heroine's age, shaving off five years to fit in the crucial historical dates. (And I love the mental image of lighting a workshop by placing 'candles in scones' around the room - an overlooked typing mistake which amused me greatly!)

Wooden dialogue ('I am an innocent woman being imprisoned on some trumped up charge'), an overdose of adjectives, stereotypes and caricatures abound, and every convention known to historical romances, from orphans to prince charming, make this an amusing read, but for all the wrong reasons. Now I would like to read the obviously revised edition which everyone else is raving about, please! ( )

The Queen's Dollmaker by Christine Trent, takes place in 1765 - Paris, France. Claudette Laurent is the daughter of a highly recognized French doll maker in Paris, France. While growing up in her father’s work shop, Claudette inherited the same passion for doll making and she soon becomes her father’s apprentice. After a fire tragically destroys her home, and family, Claudette finds herself all alone in the world and unable to locate her betrothed (Jean-Philippe) and his family. She is forced to leave France on a ship headed towards London fooled into thinking that she is going to be provided a position as a governess in a London family’s home. Then she soon comes to the realization that she and her new found friends were being hired as prostitutes. Once she and her friends escape the grasps of Mr. Briggs, Claudette finds herself struggling to survive in London. She is forced to become a servant for a social climbing aristocrat. Later she discovers a way to escape servitude by re-creating her father’s work of French doll making; all the while wondering whether her beloved Jean-Philippe was looking for her or if he and his family perished in the tragic fire.

Once her doll making creations reached the ears of the French Queen Marie Antoinette, she is asked to make a special visit to the Queen. Claudette sees it as a wonderful opportunity to expand and promote her business. By befriending the Queen of France, Claudette is thrown into dangerous turmoil’s, one’s that may cost her, her freedom or even worse her life!

I loved how the book incorporated two different narratives: Claudette’s point of view and Marie Antoinette’s. It was so interesting learning about doll making in the 18th century and I found it tragic what Marie Antoinette and her royal family was put through by the French Revolutionaries. At times I found the brutality difficult to read but I pushed through it.

I immediately related to Claudette. I found her to be a wonderful heroine that I could sympathize with. . She is faced with one thing after another to overcome. I loved all the twists and turns. It kept me interested from start to finish, which I find to be the best kind of books. I hate being bogged down with so much fluff that the plot grows cold but you won’t find that in Trent’s book. I find it amazing that this was her first book and I will be on the lookout for her next book due to come out in December!

If you love a book that keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish that is enchanted with romance, tragedy, thrilling adventures, and danger all rolled into one, than this is the book for you! I highly recommend this book to any historical fiction fanatics! If you would like to see any of my other reviews, visit my site http://allthingshistoricalfiction.blogspot.com/ ( )

Claudette Laurent met the Dauphine - Marie Antoinette - at a young age. She was enthralled by her beauty and youth. Set in the backdrop of the French Revolution, The Queen's Dollmaker captures the political environment within Paris as well as between France and England. Claudette is forced to flee to England after a fire destroys her father's doll shop and a carriage runs over her parents. On the ship over to England she befriends a young Frenchwoman -Beatrice and her daughter. Once they dock she is "sold" to a local family to be their French maid. She quickly realizes that being a maid in this household was not going to be easy. After a few months she saves enough money - from making dolls to be sold on the black market - to leave the household and rent her own place.



Eventually, Claudette is able to convince local fabric shops to give her samples of fabric to show off on her dolls. She begins to build her doll making business and make her way in a foreign country. She teaches Beatrice how to help her build the dolls so that they can support themselves. Claudette is always wondering if she will ever see her love of her life - Jean Phillipe again. In the mean time she is woed by lord William Greycliffe who is impressed with her guts to make her own way. In the end Claudette is reunited with Jean Phillipe but not for the reasons she originally thought. Her allegiance to the Dauphine is questioned as the political environment between France and England heats up.



I could not put this book down. I liked the way the story was built around Marie Antoinette's legend. The heroine is a strong woman and worked to overcome any obstacles in her way to happiness.

http://bibliophibian.blogspot.com/2010/07/twenty-nine-queens-dollmaker-christine... ( )