Life was very hard in the 1700s in the French town of Versailles, especially for an eleven year old lacemaker named Isabelle. Her Grand-mere is horrible to her and Isabelle’s Maman can barely afford to put food on their plates. But one day Isabelle’s Grand-mere tells her to make a lace delivery to the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette. She had always wanted to go to the palace and now she actually could. While she was making her delivery, she met the Queen’s daughter Therese. The Queen said that she wanted Isabelle to be Therese’s companion. Isabelle was very excited and her family was living lavishly because of Therese. But while Isabelle was with the royals, carefree and lighthearted, there were rumors going around about starvation and revolution. Isabelle tried to tell herself that they are not true, but when a mob of women come stampeding to the palace, demanding bread, the friends know that this is the beginning of the revolution. Will their friendship get torn apart because of it? Read this book to find out.
I liked this book a lot. I loved how it was a child’s perspective of the French Revolutionary War. I learned a lot about France when I read it, about how their government was set up and about what people thought of it. The revolutionaries were always talking about how they wanted a government like America’s and how much better it would be there, if they had the money. It made me feel we were a strong country and we are. It was different ways how different countries got their freedom and how it was like for America. It taught me how much you depend on each other in situations like this and what war can do to one another.
Ryan K