Queen Margot; Or, Marguerite de Valois - With Nine Illustrations

By Alexandre Dumas

A classic historical romance by the author of 'The Three Musketeers'.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pohl Press
• Release date: Apr 10, 2014
• ISBN: 9781473393042

Alexandre Dumas

Alexandre Dumas was born in 1802. After a childhood of extreme poverty, he took work as a clerk, and met the renowned actor Talma, and began to write short pieces for the theatre. After twenty years of success as a playwright, Dumas turned his hand to novel-writing, and penned such classics as The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), La Reine Margot (1845) and The Black Tulip (1850). After enduring a short period of bankruptcy, Dumas began to travel extensively, still keeping up a prodigious output of journalism, short fiction and novels. He fathered an illegitimate child, also called Alexandre, who would grow up to write La Dame aux Camélias. He died in Dieppe in 1870.

Reviews for Queen Margot; Or, Marguerite de Valois - With Nine Illustrations

[stuart10er_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Really great novel - even if I already knew the story from the opera and the movie. Wonderful characters - La Mole and Coccanas were brilliant. Great story of in-fighting in the French royal house. Poisonings, betrayals, and intrigue. A little like Wuthering Heights in that everyone has the same name so it is hard to keep everyone straight. Too many Henrys.

[rainpebble_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Queen Margot by Alexandre Dumas; (4 1/2*)This book is filled with intrigue, conspiracies, treachery, violence and even a bit of romance. I found it to be exhilarating, gripping, suspenseful and quite a page turner. It is an amazing piece of literature but then I find everything by Dumas to be more than wonderful. It is based on history, two years of the history of France from 1572 to 1574. Events seem to come to life under the hand of this author.At the forefront of the story itself is Queen Margot of France and her new husband King Henry of Navarre. She is the sister of the King of France, Charles IX. We begin with their wedding at a time when there is a "truce" between the Catholic French and the Protestant Navarre. The truce is false and within days of the wedding thousands of Protestants have been brutally killed in the streets of Paris which sets off the two years of deceit and treachery that Dumas details so thrillingly. Because it has been an arranged marriage there is no love between the Catholic Queen and her Protestant King but the two of them form an alliance to protect one another. My favorite (though she was quite despicible) character was the Queen Mother, Catherine de Medicis, who wants King Henry deadThis is a novel rich in the telling.

[bookmarque · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

You think you know scheming, backstabbing, double dealing and treachery? You don’t know anything compared to the French aristocracy. Yes, I know this is fiction, true historical fiction since it it set almost 200 years before it was written, but darn if it doesn’t ring true to some extent. No one gets and keeps power without a little skulduggery on the side. And in the French court, murder helps, too.Because this is based on real people; Queen Catherine de Medici and her many sons, plus wives, girlfriends and hangers-on, I did some fact-checking to see how close Dumas got it. There is some embroidery and speculation (did Catherine poison Henry of Navarre’s mother Jeanne?) but the bare bones of the succession, religious turmoil and court drama is factual. And boy is it fun. Once I got the hang of the French names and titles it was a breeze. I nearly drew myself a quick family tree because damn, everyone is related to everyone else and it’s crazy. Eventually though I got it. As you might suspect, at the heart of the plot is the succession to the throne of France and all the jousting and jockeying that goes into getting it. The sheer amount of lies and manipulation is staggering. Dumas keeps Francis alive even though he was king and died before Charles, who is king in the novel, ascends to the throne. His sister Margot describes Francis as “cunning and cold. He has never made friends, because he neither loves nor hates. He just plots for himself, and he will treat his friends as enemies, or take his enemies for friends, as he thinks it may be advantageous to him.” That pretty much goes for all of them and Charles does a good job of getting his brothers out of the way by giving them lesser crowns. His mother Catherine is also a master manipulator and isn’t happy now Charles is ruling independently. She employs a purfumier which is really just a nice way to say poisoner. As soon as the poisons start flying though, you know there will be an unintended victim and near misses. We also get a massacre, secret romances, murder, imprisonment, friendship, changing alliances, secret passageways, eavesdropping, clandestine meetings and religious conversions. Great stuff.

[jmoncton_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

For all those people who find the classics wordy or tedious, then this is the perfect book. Although long, this book is fast paced and filled with betrayal, love affairs and secret passages - I just loved it. The story is based on the marriage between Marguerite de Valois, sister of King Charles of France and Henri de Navarre, the leader of the Huguenots. The marriage is arranged by Marguerite's mother, Catherine of Medici, an evil scheming woman whose weapon of choice is poison, and stops at nothing in her ambitious goals for her children. 8 days after Marguerite and Henri's marrige, the famous St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre occurred when over 30,000 Protestants were murdered by French Catholics. This story was a combination of history lesson and pure adventure. Very readable and very enjoyable.

[john257hopper · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There are some moments of genuine horror and pathos during this story, during the Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve itself, when thousands of Huguenots were killed at the behest of Catherine de Medici by Catholic officers, soldiers and civilians; at the climax when the romantic heroes are tortured and executed; and at one point when Catherine de Medici tricks and kills a servant. Most of the rest of the time it is standard swashbuckling Dumas, with a strong air of theatricality and even farcicality.

[eltomaso · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An excellent Book, you must read it!