Cover Reveal! Ribbons of Scarlet: A Novel of the French Revolution's Women

Six bestselling and award-winning authors bring to life a breathtaking epic novel illuminating the hopes, desires, and destinies of princesses and peasants, harlots and wives, fanatics and philosophers—six unforgettable women whose paths cross during one of the most tumultuous and transformative events in history: the French Revolution.

RIBBONS OF SCARLET: A Novel of the French Revolution releases October 1, 2019! Check out the amazing cover below and pre-order your copy today!

 

About RIBBONS OF SCARLET: A Novel of the French Revolution

(Coming October 1, 2019)

Ribbons of Scarlet is a timely story of the power of women to start a revolution—and change the world.

In late eighteenth-century France, women do not have a place in politics. But as the tide of revolution rises, women from gilded salons to the streets of Paris decide otherwise—upending a world order that has long oppressed them.

Blue-blooded Sophie de Grouchy believes in democracy, education, and equal rights for women, and marries the only man in Paris who agrees. Emboldened to fight the injustices of King Louis XVI, Sophie aims to prove that an educated populace can govern itself--but one of her students, fruit-seller Louise Audu, is hungrier for bread and vengeance than learning. When the Bastille falls and Louise leads a women’s march to Versailles, the monarchy is forced to bend, but not without a fight. The king’s pious sister Princess Elisabeth takes a stand to defend her brother, spirit her family to safety, and restore the old order, even at the risk of her head.

But when fanatics use the newspapers to twist the revolution’s ideals into a new tyranny, even the women who toppled the monarchy are threatened by the guillotine. Putting her faith in the pen, brilliant political wife Manon Roland tries to write a way out of France’s blood-soaked Reign of Terror while pike-bearing Pauline Leon and steely Charlotte Corday embrace violence as the only way to save the nation. With justice corrupted by revenge, all the women must make impossible choices to survive--unless unlikely heroine and courtesan’s daughter Emilie de Sainte-Amaranthe can sway the man who controls France’s fate: the fearsome Robespierre.

Review: The Wardrobe Mistress by Meghan Masterson

From the Back Cover:

It's Giselle Aubry's first time at court in Versailles. At sixteen, she is one of Marie Antoinette's newest undertirewomen, and in awe of the glamorous queen and her opulent palace life. A budding designer, it's a dream come true to work with the beautiful fabrics and jewels in the queen's wardrobe. But every few weeks she returns home to visit her family in the Parisian countryside where rumors of revolution are growing stronger.

From her position working in the royal household, Giselle is poised to see both sides of the revolutionary tensions erupting throughout Paris. When her uncle, a retired member of the secret du roi, a spy ring that worked for the old King, Louis XV, suggests that she casually report the Queen s actions back to him as a game, she leaps at the chance. Spying seems like an adventure and an exciting way to privately support the revolution taking the countryside by storm. She also enjoys using her insight from Versailles in lively debates with Leon Gauvain, the handsome and idealistic revolutionary who courts her.

But as the revolution continues to gain momentum, and Giselle grows closer to the Queen, becoming one of the few trusted servants, she finds herself dangerously torn. Violence is escalating; she must choose where her loyalty truly lies, or risk losing everything...maybe even her head.

My Thoughts:

The French Revolution is one of my favorite time periods to read about, not because I admire the way it went down--quite the opposite--but because it lends itself perfectly to historical fiction and trying to understand what it must have been like to live through such terror and uncertainty. I was drawn to The Wardrobe Mistress particularly for the perspective of a woman in charge of dressing Marie Antoinette.

From a comfortably upper middle-class family, Giselle is thrilled to earn a position in the queen's household. An aspiring dressmaker, she hopes to further her craft and establish the connections that could allow her to open her own business in the future. Though the queen is glamorous and pampered, Giselle sees firsthand the work it takes to make the queen formidable in the face of her enemies, and she witnesses the queen's sorrow as civil unrest grows and the king's enemies blame her for their problems. Giselle comes to admire and pity the queen, but when she falls in love with Leon, a young revolutionary, she is caught between her respect and admiration for the royals and the growing animosity from the lower classes, to whom she also feels some loyalty. Tasked by her uncle Beaumarchais to supply him with any information that might be pertinent to national security and challenged by Leon's increasing revolutionary fervor, Giselle must tread a careful path to avoid falling victim to political persecution. And when the mob becomes murderous, storming the palace and eventually capturing the king and queen, Giselle must find a way to avoid being taken down with them.

I don't know that there's anything new or revelatory here, but the graphic depictions of mob violence and the honest portrayal of the dangers of a civilized society becoming too polarized and politicized are frightening. And I appreciated the viewpoint of someone privy to the more intimate circumstances behind Louis XVI's and Marie Antoinette's actions. I'm a fan of romance, but I found the love story here to be too sweet, almost saccharine, and a little too much the focal point at times. There were a couple of twists toward the end that made for a more nuanced and poignant conclusion, though I did think the ending too abrupt. It needed one more chapter to give the reader--and the story--closure. But the story does a good job of capturing the paranoid, frenetic culture of the revolution and how an innocent young woman could unwittingly find herself on the wrong side of it. At times gay and glamorous, at others gritty and gruesome, The Wardrobe Mistress is a thought-provoking and entertaining read.

My Rating:  3.5 Stars out of 5

*Please Note: This review references an advance digital copy received from the publisher via NetGalley, and therefore the final published copy may differ. Though I received this book from the publisher, my review is voluntary and these are my honest and unbiased thoughts. I was not compensated in any other way for reviewing this book.

Guest Post: Feuding with Marie Antoinette by Meghan Masterson, Author of The Wardrobe Mistress

Please join me in welcoming author Meghan Masterson to Let Them Read Books! I had the pleasure of meeting Meghan at the Historical Novel Society conference in Oregon in June, and her debut novel, The Wardrobe Mistress, was high on my new-release radar. I'm thrilled to have her here today with a guest post about two of Marie Antoinette's famous feuds! Read on, and check back next week for my review of The Wardrobe Mistress!

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THE WARDROBE MISTRESS is Meghan Masterson's fascinating and visceral debut, an inside look at Marie Antoinette's luxurious life in Versailles remarkably juxtaposed against life in third estate as the French Revolution gains strength. A propulsive exploration of love, loyalty, danger, and intrigue...not to be missed.

It's Giselle Aubry's first time at court in Versailles. At sixteen, she is one of Marie Antoinette's newest under-tirewomen, and in awe of the glamorous queen and her opulent palace life. A budding designer, it's a dream come true to work with the beautiful fabrics and jewels in the queen's wardrobe. But every few weeks she returns home to visit her family in Paris, where rumors of revolution are growing stronger.

From her position working in the royal household, Giselle is poised to see both sides of the revolutionary tensions erupting throughout Paris. When her uncle, a retired member of the secret du roi, a spy ring that worked for the old King, Louis XV, suggests that she casually report the queen’s actions back to him as a game, she leaps at the chance. Spying seems like an adventure and an exciting way to privately support the revolution taking the countryside by storm. She also enjoys using her insight from Versailles in lively debates with Léon Gauvain, the handsome and idealistic revolutionary who courts her.

But as the uprising continues to gain momentum, and Giselle grows closer to the queen, becoming one of the few trusted servants, she finds herself dangerously torn. Violence is escalating; she must choose where her loyalty truly lies, or risk losing everything...maybe even her head.

Feuding with Marie Antoinette

by Meghan Masterson

Upon her marriage to the future Louis XVI in 1770, Marie Antoinette came to Versailles at the tender age of fifteen. In spite of her youth, she was determined to fulfill her rank as dauphine and future queen. Unfortunately, in one case, this meant starting a feud. She had a couple of feuds through her lifetime, being stubborn enough to stand by her principles and sensitive enough to hold a grudge. Let’s examine two of them and determine if they were justified or not.

Blog Tour Q&A with Barbara Lynn-Davis, Author of Casanova's Secret Wife

Please join me in welcoming Barbara Lynn-Davis to Let Them Read Books! Barbara is touring the blogosphere with her debut historical novel, Casanova's Secret Wife, and I recently had the chance to ask her a few burning questions about her famous subject and his not-so-famous wife. Read on and enter to win a paperback copy of Casanova's Secret Wife!

Set in eighteenth-century Venice and based on an actual account by Giacomo Casanova—here is a lush tale of desire and risk.

Caterina Capreta was an innocent girl of fourteen when she caught the attention of the world’s most infamous chronicler of seduction: Giacomo Casanova. Intoxicated by a fierce love, she wed Casanova in secret. But his shocking betrayal inspired her to commit an act that would mark her forever …

Now twenty years later on the island of Murano, the woman in possession of Caterina’s most devastating secret has appeared with a request she cannot refuse: to take in a noble-born girl whose scandalous love affair resembles her own. But the girl’s presence stirs up unwelcome memories of Caterina’s turbulent past. Tested like never before, she reveals the story of the man she will never forget.

Bringing to life a fascinating chapter in the history of Venice, Casanova’s Secret Wife is a tour de force that charts one woman’s journey through love and loss to redemption.

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Hi Barbara! Welcome to Let Them Read Books! Thanks so much for taking the time to join us today.

Can you tell us what inspired you to write a story about Casanova from the point of view of one of his conquests? Was Caterina a real historical figure?

Caterina Capreta was a real person in Venice, only fourteen years old when she met Giacomo Casanova. But he was not notorious or even well-known at the time my story takes place. I challenge my readers to think apart from Casanova-as-myth and she as just another “conquest.” Theirs is a story of passion, hope, desperation, loss, and enduring love. These are the reasons I wrote the book: to share their haunting love story.

What kind of research did you do to prepare for this story? Did you come across anything that surprised you?

Readers often remark on the setting: the inimitable city of Venice. I first became enchanted with Venice while working at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in the neighborhood of Dorsoduro. Later, as a graduate student, I returned to live in Venice and got to know the city inside and out. I can walk the streets, dart in and out of churches to find hidden altarpieces, smell the night jasmine creeping out of garden gates, and hear the lapping water in my mind. I did do “book” research for the story, like about midwife practice, horse care, and the Jewish ghetto. But mostly, the story is an unpouring of images and memories I carry inside of me.

Blog Tour Guest Post: A Minor Deception by Nupur Tustin

Please join me in welcoming Nupur Tustin to Let Them Read Books! Nupur is touring the blogosphere with her debut historical novel, A Minor Deception, first book in the Joseph Haydn Mystery series, and I'm thrilled to have her here today with a guest post about how Haydn became a sleuth for his very own mystery series and how she tackles combining fact with fiction. Read on and enter to win a paperback copy of A Minor Deception!

When his newly hired violinist disappears just weeks before the Empress’s visit, Haydn is forced to confront a disturbing truth...

Kapellmeister Joseph Haydn would like nothing better than to show his principal violinist, Bartó Daboczi, the door. But with the Empress Maria Theresa’s visit scheduled in three weeks, Haydn can ill-afford to lose his surly virtuoso.

But when Bartó disappears—along with all the music composed for the imperial visit—the Kapellmeister is forced to don the role of Kapell-detective, or risk losing his job.

Before long Haydn’s search uncovers pieces of a disturbing puzzle. Bartó, it appears, is more than just a petty thief—and more dangerous. And what seemed like a minor musical mishap could modulate into a major political catastrophe unless Haydn can find his missing virtuoso.

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From Kapellmeister to Kapell-detective

by Nupur Tustin

The Chicken Or Egg Question

Which comes first: the character of a series or the genre? Michael Brown who wrote the delightful Paddington Brown books said he discovered the character first. After that, the bear's adventures pretty much wrote themselves.

Read the books, and the first thing you'll notice is that things don't happen to Paddington so much as Paddington happens to them. This fits the mold of general fiction quite well, but mysteries are different.

In mysteries, as in life, we don't always control what happens to us. Watch any true crime program, and you'll realize just how tragically true this is. Mysteries, like life, are an interaction between character and events, or plot. Oftentimes, plot happens first, and we're left, belatedly, to respond to the awful incident. How we respond depends, of course, on our character.

Mystery writers most often choose their genre, and even their sub-genre, well before the task of researching the novel begins. In order to write a good puzzle-plot mystery, we need to be in control of our plots, and we need a character who'll work with us rather than against us. By this I mean that when I've concocted a crime, I've already determined that it can and will be solved.

I knew I was going to write a historical mystery series. I also knew I wanted to write a biographical mystery. I didn't want to focus on England. Several excellent writers have already done that: Charles Todd, Margaret Frazer, Susan Wittig Albert/Robin Paige, to name just a few.

Some have chosen to write about other writers: Stephanie Barron with her Jane Austen series and Laura Joh Rowland with her Charlotte Brontë series. I wanted to do something different.

So, I turned to my other passion: music. After that it was merely a question of finding the composer with the right personality. I knew Beethoven and Mozart with their prima donna personalities wouldn't do. I needed someone who was approachable and responsible, tactful and discreet.

I found all this and more in Haydn. A personable, warm-hearted, witty individual, he quickly captured my heart.

Review: The Violinist of Venice by Alyssa Palombo

From the Back Cover:

A sweeping historical novel of composer and priest Antonio Vivaldi, a secret wealthy mistress, and their passion for music and each other 

Like most 18th century Venetians, Adriana d'Amato adores music-except her strict merchant father has forbidden her to cultivate her gift for the violin. But she refuses to let that stop her from living her dreams and begins sneaking out of her family's palazzo under the cover of night to take violin lessons from virtuoso violinist and composer Antonio Vivaldi. However, what begins as secret lessons swiftly evolves into a passionate, consuming love affair.

Adriana's father is intent on seeing her married to a wealthy, prominent member of Venice's patrician class-and a handsome, charming suitor, whom she knows she could love, only complicates matters-but Vivaldi is a priest, making their relationship forbidden in the eyes of the Church and of society. They both know their affair will end upon Adriana's marriage, but she cannot anticipate the events that will force Vivaldi to choose between her and his music. The repercussions of his choice-and of Adriana's own choices-will haunt both of their lives in ways they never imagined.

Spanning more than 30 years of Adriana's life, Alyssa Palombo's The Violinist of Venice is a story of passion, music, ambition, and finding the strength to both fall in love and to carry on when it ends.

My Thoughts:

Vivaldi is my absolute favorite composer. I adore the style of his music and think it some of the most complex and beautiful music ever written, and so I could not wait to read Alyssa Palombo's debut novel.

The story is told completely from the point of view of Adriana d'Amato, a young woman isolated from the world by an overbearing father, forbidden to play her beloved violin since the death of her mother. But the call of music is too strong to overcome, so she begins sneaking out to take lessons from the violinist whose music is taking Venice by storm, Antonio Vivaldi, the Red Priest. A sheltered and lonely young woman, Adriana soon finds herself wanting more than just music lessons from the talented man whose passion for music inspires and invigorates her, and though Vivaldi is technically a priest--though not a very good one--the two are soon caught up in a forbidden affair. Though any type of lasting, public relationship between them is impossible, Adriana naively clings to hope that their love will surmount all obstacles. But she is in for a heartbreaking awakening when a series of unfortunate events causes her carefully constructed fantasy to come crashing down around her, and her life is forced onto a path she had not anticipated.