The Queen's Lover by Francine Du Plessix Gray FIC Gra

I love French history and I especially like the 1700's with all the Louies and the French Revolution.   When I was teaching I did a lot of reading about this period.   Now my mind has begun to unravel a bit and I have forgotten so much!  That is why I loved this book.  Once I began to read it things came back to me and I enjoyed reliving the excitement and tragedy of Marie Antoinette.  This novel tells the story very accurately but the emphasis is on Axel von Fersen.  He was a Swedish aristocrat who 'worked' for King Gustave of  Sweden.  His job seemed to consist of traveling with the King sometimes and spending the rest of the time traveling and hanging out with royalty in other countries.  He met Antoinette when he was young and she was not yet the Queen.  He was quite smitten with her - of course he was smitten by many, many women.  He became devoted to Antoinette and her entire family.  His first attempt to get the family out of France and out of danger was ruined by several small events which together led to failure.  Von Fersen outlived the Queen by a few decades and he never got over the loss (even though he continued to be quite the womanizer).  If you like historical novels this is a good one.