For ages 12 to 16.

Marie Antoinette was one of the most captivating princesses of all time. As a light-hearted fourteen-year-old, she came to the young Dauphin who four years later began his reign as King Louis XVI. It was a shimmering age, and the impulsive young French Queen was a butterfly queen whom all adored.

But deep in the heart of France a rumble of unrest could be heard. News of the American Revolution had seeped into every hedgerow, and Lafayette was back to tell his people about the colonists who had defied the King of England. In France the royal family and particularly Marie Antoinette became a symbol of all the injustices that had been heaped upon the people.

"Down with the monarchy! Long live the nation!" shouted the mob outside the royal palace, and the working people armed themselves with scythes and pikes for one of the bitterest and bloodiest revolutions of all time. Older now and more thoughtful, Marie Antoinette faced the howling mob with dignity, little realizing that the uprising of the French people was a turning point in world history.

In Marie Antoinette, Bernardine Kielty tells the moving story of the enchanting young Queen who was at first beloved and finally guillotined by the people of France.

From the dust jacket