This "wonderfully gripping biography" digs beneath the famous legend to present a nuanced and revealing portrait of a serious-mined monarch (Allan Massie, Wall Street Journal). As the last Queen of France before the French Revolution, Marie-Antoinette was mistrusted and reviled in her own time, while today she is portrayed as a lightweight incapable of understanding the events that engulfed her. But who was she really? In this new account, John Hardman redresses the balance and sheds fresh light on her story. Hardman shows how Marie-Antoinette played a significant but misunderstood role in the crisis of the monarchy. Drawing on new sources, he describes how she refused to prioritize the aggressive foreign policy of her mother, bravely took over the helm from her faltering husband, and, when revolution broke out, worked closely with repentant radicals to give the constitutional monarchy a fighting chance. For the first time, Hardman demonstrates exactly what influence Marie-Antoinette had and when and how she exerted it. Named a 2020 Book of the Year by The Spectator

ジョン・ハードマンが描く本作は、贅沢に溺れた悲劇の王女という手垢のついた虚像を根底から覆す、極めて野心的な評伝です。著者は、激動のフランス革命期において、迷走する夫ルイ十六世に代わり舵取りを担おうとした彼女の「政治家としての意志」に光を当てています。これまで軽視されてきた彼女の知性と決断力が、新資料に基づいた精緻な筆致で現代に鮮烈に蘇ります。 本書の白眉は、孤立無援の状況下で憲政維持に奔走する彼女の「魂の孤独」と「真摯な覚悟」を浮き彫りにした点にあります。単なる歴史の犠牲者ではなく、能動的に時代と対峙した一人の真剣な統治者としての肖像は、我々の歴史観を揺さぶるほどの重厚さを放っています。歴史の荒波に揉まれながら信念を貫こうとした彼女の真実の姿に、必ずや魂が震えるはずです。