A Favour for Marie Antoinette is the first novel in a series set amidst the turmoil of the French Revolution. This volume is set in 1789, a year that bridges both the Ancien Regime and the onset of the Revolution, which started in July of that year. The terrifying threat of the starvation of the ordinary people, together with the complex political and economic issues of the time, forms the backdrop to the pampered life of Sophie, Comtesse de Boise. She leads a perfect life. She is rich, beautiful, happily married and enjoys her work as Reader to the Queen, whom she admires and likes. After Marie Antoinette asks her to visit the Convent of Sainte Marie des Champs Célestes as a favour, Sophie's life starts to unravel. She investigates the history of a mysterious girl who lived at the Convent and discovers some unpleasant truths about her own family and about life under the current King's predecessor. As her investigations continue and her world starts to crumble, the Revolution begins and she is caught up in the events that eventually lead to the removal of the Royal family to Paris and their semi-imprisonment in the Tuileries. A Favour for Marie Antoinette is full of authentic historical detail and is the culmination of years of research into eye-witness accounts of the Revolution. All the events in the novel relating to the onset and the progress of the French Revolution are based upon historical fact. Similarly, all the anecdotes about the historical figures who were alive in 1789, such as Marie Antoinette, King Louis XVI, the Princesse de Lamballe, the Duchesse de Polignac, Madame du Barry, the Comte de Narbonne-Lara, the Duc d'Orléans and the Comte d'Artois, to name just a few, are based upon documents written by people who knew them, such as Madame Campan, Madame de Tourzel, Count Mercy d'Argenteau, the Marquise de La Tour-du-Pin-Gouvernet and many others. All the plays and operas that the characters attend were real entertainments sung or acted by the professional entertainers that are mentioned by name. Similarly, the balls to which the characters are invited were real balls, given by real people. The details relating to society, behaviour and specific events are correct, including the particulars of such diverse topics as street addresses; the absurd etiquette at Versailles; the diabolical Necklace Affair; the behaviour of Marie Antoinette's favourites; descriptions of the fashions and the hairstyles; the cost of bread and of bonnets; shops such as le Petit Dunkerque and au Grand Mogol; the layout of the gardens of the Palais-Royal and the Tuileries; the various cafés, restaurants and theatres that are mentioned; the radical newspapers that started to spring up... all of it is true and accurate. In the same way, all the information about the politics of the time is factual: the Réveillon riots; the election of deputies; the proceedings at the Estates General; the Séance Royale and the events afterwards; the uprisings in the countryside, the storming of the Bastille and of Versailles; the exodus of the aristocrats and the forced removal of the Royal family to Paris.A Favour for Marie-Antoinette contains a wealth of authentic, historical detail, although the key character, Sophie, is fictional, as are the details of her life and the intriguing mystery that she unravels during the course of this fascinating book.
About the Author: Lindy Vinke was born in St Albans, England and spent a few years in South Africa as a teenager. In her twenties, she went to live on the island of Texel in North Holland for six years, eventually returning to South Africa. After many years in the hectic world of marketing and advertising, she is now a full-time writer. She and her husband live for part of the year in sub-tropical Umhlanga, on the East Coast and for the other part in rural Magaliesburg on the Highveld of South Africa. Lindy is a Doctor of Music, with a PhD from the University of the Free State, a Performance Licentiate in Harpsichord and a Fellowship in Music from Trinity College London. She also has a BA with majors in English and History of Art. When she is not writing, she is an enthusiastic harpsichordist and pianist and paints (mainly wildlife) in oils.