Antionette’s Sister
Late last night I finished reading “Antoinette’s
Sister,” by Diana Giovinazzo. The story tells of Maria Carolina Charlotte who
became Queen of Sicily. Initially her elder sister Josepha was the intended
bride but tragedy struck when she died of small pox. Now Maria Carolina
Charlotte has to be the intended bride to Sicily’s King Ferdiand. Down the line
Maria Carolina Charlotte’s sister Marie Antionette will go and marry France’s
future king. While the two close sisters never see each other again, they
remain close by always writing to one another. We also read about Maria
Carolina Charlotte’s time as queen, her alleged affair with John Action and
even though you know the sad fate of Marie Antionette, you still hope for a
sisterly reunion that was not meant to be. It’s also nice that a historical
fiction book is written about a royal we don’t know a whole lot about.
Pros & Cons
My favorite part of the novel was the letters exchanged
between the sisters, their brother Leopold and their mother Maria Theresa.
While some of the actual letters have been lost to time as mentioned in the
author’s note, I think it’s realistic to what they corresponded to one another.
I will say it was confusing that the
date on some of the letters would be a future date and then when it went back
to Maria Carolina Charlotte telling her own story again it was a previous date.
It was also interesting to know that Maria Carolina Charlotte, before marrying
Ferdiand was originally intended to be Queen of France and not Marie
Antionette. I didn’t know that. It does beg the question, Would Maria Carolina Charlotte have been a better queen of France than
her sister? Would there have been a revolution? We will never know for
sure.
Overall
I definitely can’t wait to read more from Diana
Giovinazzo in the future. It’s also nice that we’re getting books, t.v. shows,
and movies about lesser known royals and famous royals that aren’t talked about
enough instead of the umpteenth movie or show about the Tudors.