2013 • 242 pages (eBook) • Madame Guillotine
Born in the heart of the English Civil War and smuggled
out of England as an infant, Princess Henriette has lived most of her life as
an exile in the French Court. The youngest daughter of the unfortunate Charles
I, Henriette and the rest of her family wait in hope of their fortunes being
restored as she is brought up in the decadent and treacherous court of Louis
XIV. A rags-to-riches story, Minette follows Henriette’s early adolescence as
she and her family fight to survive.
This was a nice little book – not a sweeping epic, but
still very entertaining. Henriette (or Minette to her family) led a very turbulent life from a young age and
anyone familiar with her story will know that things were never smooth sailing
for her. During her refuge in France she lived pretty poorly due to her family's allowance being scarce, and what
money they did have was shared with the other English aristocrats in exile or
sent to England for the war effort. She didn’t exactly live the life of luxury accustomed to a
seventeenth century princess but her character was charming; she’s sweet and
attentive and I found her to be an interesting historical figure. I read this
book already knowing about Henriette’s later life so it was fun to see how
Clegg dealt with depicting her childhood.
Despite her seemingly hectic early years very little
seems to happen to Henriette, at least until the final third of the book.
Living in exile isn’t the most glamorous of positions to be in and there’s a lot of hearing about thing
happening elsewhere - what her brother, the soon to be Charles II, is up to, the
battles being fought away from the French court, and what occurred before
Henriette was born. I’m not saying it isn’t interesting but there was a limit
to what a seventeenth century princess could do and for Henriette it’s lots of
parties and lots of waiting.
It’s not until Charles II is welcomed back to England
that things really start to change for her. Her family finally have money and
respect once more so that’s an up, and once that happens people start to take
notice of her in a kind of she’s-the-sister-of-a-king-and-we-need-an-alliance
sort of way. Henriette’s a pretty sad figure – her life was full of early family
deaths and strained relationships so this isn’t the happiest read of your life
but it’s still very good fictional portrayal of an unconventional historical princess.
Clegg is apparently working on a second novel about
Henriette which will probably pick up where this story left off so I’ll be sure
to check that out when it’s published.
Overall rating: 3 stars
Overall rating: 3 stars