Antoinette’s Sister

The tragedy of Marie Antoinette is a familiar one, whether one sees it as her tragedy, as a triumph of republicanism, or as something in between. Less familiar to laypeople of history is the story of the rest of her family. She was only the youngest of a large family of the Habsburg branch. The many children of Maria Theresa of Austria are fascinating in their own right, and I would love to see more treatments of them like this one about Maria Carolina Charlotte, Queen of Naples.

Giovinazzo does what many historical fiction writers set out to do and few actually accomplish. She plucks a relatively obscure character from history and brings her wholly to life. Charlotte is a fascinating, strong-willed woman, and her struggles to cement her place in the Neapolitan court are compelling. At the end of most chapters, there is a short letter from some other member of Charlotte’s family, illuminating what is happening in the rest of Europe. Maria Theresa’s children filled the royal courts of late eighteenth-century Europe. The tragedy that befell Marie Antoinette reached them all.