the embroidered book, by kate heartfield

i received a copy of the embroidered book from harper collins nz in exchange for an honest review.

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star rating

★★★★★

the embroidered book review

the embroidered book is a stunning book following the lives of queen charlotte (of naples) and queen marie antoinette (of france). while i’ve read a fair few books about the latter, i’d never heard of her sister. the embroidered book painted the characters in a good light (which you don’t normally see for marie antoinette), and i really loved it. both antoine and charlotte were loveable characters and we get to see them grow from childhood into powerful queens. both charlotte and antoine were written in a way that portrayed their perfections as well as their flaws, which i enjoyed. i love well rounded characters.

while i hadn’t heard of charlotte prior to reading this book (which is funny, because she seems to be a well known person!), i done some research on her post-reading. i’m keen to expand my knowledge as she sounds like an amazing woman.

i found the author did a great job neatly interweaving historical fact with fantasy to produce this excellent piece of work. when done well, as in the case of the embroidered book, you find yourself thinking: “could this have really happened?”, which is the best feeling.

the writing throughout this book was fast paced. i found we jumped a decade within the first part of the book (which actually threw me off a little bit, but once i paid attention to the dates, it wasn’t an issue). although this book is on the large side, it didn’t take long for me to wizz my way through.

overall, i absolutely adored this book. i’d recommend it to anyone who likes a good historical fiction novel. (not to mention, i love baroque/late baroque france, and there doesn’t appear to be many books set during this period — and the i’ve read most of the ones with this setting).

buy your copy now!

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