Paris during the French Revolution is overtaken by the reign of terror. Anyone can be suspected of betraying the revolution, imprisoned and sent to the guillotine. In the midst of this Marie Grosholtz and her family are trying to keep their wax museum open and profitable. It is the worst possible time to become friends with the royal family but that is exactly what Marie does after she becomes an sculpture tutor to Madame Elisabeth, the king's sister. Marie is forced to live two lives, royalist at Versailles, and a good patriot at home. But as the terror continues to escalate, more and more people are sacrificed to the guillotine until Marie can no longer pretend to support the killing.
I love reading about the French revolution and this book was great fun. It's stuffed full of the great personalities from the revolution even Napoleon's Josephine is here. I knew who Madame Tussaud was before reading this book but had never read much about her. She was a great character to witness the the revolution through as she seemed to know everyone from the poorest servant to Royalty. I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the French Revolution or 17th century life. I read on another blog recently that the wax figure of Madame Du Barry made before the revolution still exists. I think it would be well worth a trip across the pond to London to see it in person.
