In the Shadow of the Empress: The Defiant Lives of Maria Theresa, Mother of Marie Antoinette, and Her Daughters
- ISBN-10
- 0316449334
- ISBN-13
- 9780316449335
- Pages
- 496
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2021-09-21
- Author
- Nancy Goldstone
Description
The vibrant, sprawling saga of Maria Theresa, the last of the House of Habsburg, and her three daughters: Marie Christine, Duchess of Teschen and Maria Theresa's favorite; Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples and Sicily; and the infamous Marie Antoinette, Queen of France Out of the thrilling and tempestuous eighteenth century comes the sweeping family saga of beautiful Maria Theresa, a sovereign of extraordinary strength and vision, the only woman ever to inherit and rule the vast Habsburg empire in her own name, and three of her remarkable daughters: lovely, talented Maria Christina, governor-general of the Austrian Netherlands; spirited Maria Carolina, the resolute queen of Naples; and the youngest, Marie Antoinette, the glamourous, tragic queen of France, perhaps the most famous princess in history. Unfolding against an irresistible backdrop of brilliant courts from Vienna to Versailles, embracing the exotic lure of Naples and Sicily, this epic history of Maria Theresa and her daughters is a tour de force of desire, adventure, ambition, treachery, sorrow, and glory. Each of these women's lives was packed with passion and heart-stopping suspense. Maria Theresa inherited her father's thrones at the age of twenty-three and was immediately attacked on all sides by foreign powers confident that a woman would to be too weak to defend herself. Maria Christina, a gifted artist, who alone among her sisters succeeded in marrying for love, would face the same dangers that destroyed the monarchy in France. Resourceful Maria Carolina would usher in the golden age of Naples only to then face the deadly whirlwind of Napoleon. And, finally, Marie Antoinette, the doomed queen whose stylish excesses and captivating notoriety have masked the truth about her husband and herself for two hundred and fifty years. Vividly written and deeply researched, In the Shadow of the Empress is the vibrant, riveting story of four remarkable women who changed the course of history.
Get the book
Other editions
Similar books
-
Losing the Empress: A Personal Journey : the Empress of Ireland's Enduring Shadow
By David CreightonOn May 29, 1914, the Empress of Ireland sank on the St. Lawrence River. The author delves into the lives of his grandparents, who went down with the ship.
-
Shadow Empress
By C N CrawfordAli -I'm now the Empress of Vanaheim and leader of all Elves.
-
The Empress of Time
By Kylie Lee BakerHalf British Reaper, half Japanese Shinigami Ren Scarborough is no longer the girl who was chased out of England—she is the Goddess of Death ruling Japan’s underworld.
-
Empress of All Seasons
By Emiko JeanIn this Japanese folklore–inspired YA fantasy for fans of The Hunger Games, a lowly young woman with a monstrous secret competes to become empress.
-
Empress Game: The Empress Game Trilogy
By Rhonda MasonIt’s won in a tournament of ritualized combat. Now the tournament, the Empress Game, has been called and the women of the empire will stop at nothing to secure political domination for their homeworlds.
-
Maria Theresa: The Habsburg Empress in Her Time
By Barbara Stollberg-RilingerA classic of Baroque military science, Hanns Friedrich Fleming's “Perfect German Soldier” (Der vollkommene teutsche Soldat, 1729), took war to be practically the driving force behind a general refinement in conduct that had brought ...
-
The Maid and the Queen: The Secret History of Joan of Arc
By Nancy GoldstoneNow, on the six hundredth anniversary of the birth of Joan of Arc, this fascinating book explores the relationship between these two remarkable women, and deepens our understanding of this dramatic period in history.
-
The Empress
By S. J. KincaidThe chamber went deathly still about me, and I whirled around to face Tyrus, furious, bewildered, yet there was something new on his face. His eyes seemed aglow with an electric intensity, belying the careful, cautious set of his ...
-
The Empress of the Last Days
By Jane StevensonThe discovery of a collection of manuscripts leads Oxford don Michael Foxwist and his friends to the conclusion that a black scientist in Barbados may be the rightful ruler of Britain, and Michael falls in love with her after they meet.
-
Shadow’s Lure
By Jon SprunkThe Shadow Saga continues with in this “fun, fast, action-packed novel” of magic, mystery, and monstrous evil (Elitist Book Reviews).