Marie Antoinette is older than my parents. No, really. It was my aunt’s book and, in fact, it has both her name and the address of her childhood home in Minnesota written on the front page.

I read this biography a lot as a children, but reading it now I can see that it holds back a lot of information. The tone of the biography annoyed me, but as I child I thought it was the most fascinating thing the world. Although, that may have been my fascination with Marie Antoinette rather than my fascination with this particular book.

Still, the illustrations are beautifully drawn and the book as a whole serves as a good introduction to Marie Antoinette. But I’ll only keep it on my bookcase because of sentimental reasons. ( )