Book Review: Sisters of Versailles

I don’t know much about Pre-Revolutionary France. Most of what I know is from the film Marie Antoinette starring Kirsten Dunst (… I know that’s not saying much). I stumbled upon Sally Christie’s Sisters of Versailles while shopping last Christmas at Target. It’s the first novel in Christie’s trilogy about King Louis the XV and his most famous mistresses. I like historical fiction, and it promised scandal and melodrama in equal measure, which is intriguing in a story from time to time.

In the book, the King is married to his Polish wife. They have a seemingly good relationship, but the King is ready for a fling, so to speak. Enter Louise, the eldest of the five Nesle sisters. Over the next decade, the King falls for not only Louise, but her four sisters as well. What unfolds is more dramatic than an episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians.

Pros:

• Let me be frank: this book is not life changing. It’s a light read and enjoyable for sure.
• I didn’t look too far into it, but it seems that Christie did a fair amount of research. I deeply appreciate this, and you can get access to some of her sources on her website.

Cons:

• It’s clear that from her research, Christie was able to conceptualize the personalities of each sister. She captures each character consistently in the writing; however, they are a bit over the top. Sort of like when an actor or actress overacts.
• The novel is over 400 pages. By the end of the story, there still wasn’t one character I was completed invested in. Perhaps this was a creative choice, but I would have liked to have felt on someone’s side by the end.

I’ll definitely be reading the second novel in the trilogy about Madame de Pompadour. I’m sure it will be just as much fun as this one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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