Mistress Of The Revolution

MISTRESS OF THE REVOLUTION
CATHERINE DELORS
Historical Fiction
Dutton (Penguin Group)
Sensuality Rating: Sexy
ISBN# 978-0-525-95054-7
451 pages
$25.95 Hardcover
Print - Available March 2008

Rating: 4.5 Enchantments

In 1784, when Gabrielle de Montserrat discovers Pierre-André Coffinhal watching her from the bank of a river where she’s cooling off in her chemise, she is struck by the young man’s “colossal stature” and “plainness of his face.” Born a commoner, Pierre-André wears his hair un-powdered and un-tied and dresses with “informal elegance.” A newly examined medical student, he’s moved to Gabrielle’s village to help his older brother in his medical practice.

Spunky and blessed with fire-red hair, the young noble woman spent her childhood educated by nuns in a secluded cloister and has only recently moved back to the family home. Only fourteen years old, she’s unaware of her cold mother and controlling brother’s plan to marry her off for money. When Gabrielle and Pierre-André fall in love, the young doctor sends his two brothers to Gabrielle’s home to ask for her hand in marriage.

Outraged, her brother forbids the union and instead forces his sister to wed an aging, but wealthy cousin. Thinking Gabrielle abandoned him, Pierre-André leaves for Paris to pursue a legal career while the young wife suffers the abusive and cruel nature of her new husband. Unexpectedly widowed while still a teen and abandoned by her family, an impoverished Gabrielle flees to Paris. She finds a friend in the Dowager Duchess of Arpajon, her late father’s cousin, who introduces her to the Count de Villers. As his mistress, she learns to navigate the intrigue-thick court of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. Then, as revolutionary fever sweeps through France, Gabrielle’s high born status turns into a liability and she’s forced to make hard choices to save herself and her beloved daughter, Aimee, including begging for mercy at the feet of her first love.

Although the historical and political details at times overwhelmed the plot of this book, Ms. Delors does a superb job of describing these turbulent times in history and does so in a first person memoir of the heroin. Her characters are vivid and multi-dimensional. I especially enjoyed how Gabrielle, portrayed as a naive teenager at first, matures through the book as she fights social convention and a revolution to stay alive. There were a couple of times when the flow of the narration broke because the author allowed the narrator to speak directly to the reader but wasn’t consistent in how it was done. This was mostly outweighed by how extremely well researched the book is. In addition to detailed descriptions of living conditions, cuisine, and clothes, the social customs, class structure, and plight of women are exquisitely displayed through the narrative. The book is based on true events and many of the characters are inspired by actual historical figures. Ms. Delors even keeps true to the language of the times and strives to write mostly in the British English that Gabrielle would have used in 1815, the time when she writes her memoir. Fans of Philippa Gregory will thoroughly enjoy this debut novel.

Born and raised in France, Catherine Delors graduated from the University of Paris-Sorbonne School of Law and became a member of the Bar of Paris at the age of twenty-one. After her marriage, she moved to the United States and passed the California Bar. She now splits her time between Los Angeles and Paris and is currently working on a historical thriller about a terrorist attack at the beginning of Bonaparte’s reign. Find out more about the author at her website: www.CatherineDelors.com.


Asa Maria Bradley
Enchanting Reviews
May 2008