Author Rebecca Connolly has done it again! I’ve featured works by this author a number of times in the past with her titles such as Under The Cover of Mercy and A Brilliant Night of Stars and Ice, she’s a prolific writer of historical fiction, each one meticulously researched and engaging from the very first page.
This month, I’ve chosen her latest, Three Queens, for my June Book Club pick!
What do Abigail Adams, Queen Charlotte, and Marie Antionette have in common? They all lived during the same time period and had to navigate both public and private upheavals. While Queen Charlotte and Marie Antionette were indeed royal pen pals, and Abigail Adams had a chance to meet both under very formal circumstances, our author takes us on an imaginary journey where…
“The three women form an unlikely sisterhood, navigating revolutions, royal pressures, and personal losses as they shape their own legacies.
After the end of the American Revolutionary War, Abigail Adams crosses the Atlantic to reunite with her husband, John, after five long years apart. But she is unprepared for the glittering courts of England and France that are so different from her experience in the newly established United States. Undeterred, Abigail sets her sights on befriending the queens of Europe, believing their support is key to her nation's future.
In England, Queen Charlotte carries the weight of an empire on her shoulders. Her husband, King George III, battles a private madness, while political tensions rise and her eldest son schemes for power. Charlotte struggles to maintain order and propriety--while clinging to the solace she finds in her correspondence with her friend Marie Antoinette in France.
Revolution has gripped France, and Marie Antoinette must watch as her world crumbles. Vilified by the public and neglected by a king who refuses to see the storm coming, she faces growing unrest with dwindling allies. As tragedy strikes her family, she reaches out to her friends--Charlotte and Abigail--in a last attempt to find a path forward, possibly even escape.
The paths of these three women cross in unexpected ways in public, in private, and through letters. They forge a quiet sisterhood across borders and upheaval, each one facing love and loss, sweetness and strife, revolution and regrets.”