Monday Give Away Returns!

I’ve been cleaning out my bookshelves, which means… it’s time to bring back Monday Give Away!

For this Monday, I give you Michelle Moran’s Madame Tussaud, a look at the French Revolution through the eyes of the famed worker in wax.

Here’s the official blurb:

The world knows Madame Tussaud as a wax artist extraordinaire . . . but who was this woman who became one of the most famous sculptresses of all time? In these pages, her tumultuous and amazing story comes to life as only Michelle Moran can tell it. The year is 1788, and a revolution is about to begin.

Smart and ambitious, Marie Tussaud has learned the secrets of wax sculpting by working alongside her uncle in their celebrated wax museum, the Salon de Cire. From her popular model of the American ambassador, Thomas Jefferson, to her tableau of the royal family at dinner, Marie’s museum provides Parisians with the very latest news on fashion, gossip, and even politics. Her customers hail from every walk of life, yet her greatest dream is to attract the attention of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI; their stamp of approval on her work could catapult her and her museum to the fame and riches she desires. After months of anticipation, Marie learns that the royal family is willing to come and see their likenesses. When they finally arrive, the king’s sister is so impressed that she requests Marie’s presence at Versailles as a royal tutor in wax sculpting. It is a request Marie knows she cannot refuse—even if it means time away
from her beloved Salon and her increasingly dear friend, Henri Charles.

As Marie gets to know her pupil, Princesse Élisabeth, she also becomes acquainted with the king and queen, who introduce her to the glamorous life at court. From lavish parties with more delicacies than she’s ever seen to rooms filled with candles lit only once before being discarded, Marie steps into a world entirely different from her home on the Boulevard du Temple, where people are selling their teeth in order to put food on the table.

Meanwhile, many resent the vast separation between rich and poor. In salons and cafés across Paris, people like Camille Desmoulins, Jean-Paul Marat, and Maximilien Robespierre are lashing out against the monarchy. Soon, there’s whispered talk of revolution. . . . Will Marie be able to hold on to both the love of her life and her friendship with the royal family as France approaches civil war? And more important, will she be able to fulfill the demands of powerful revolutionaries who ask that she make the death masks of beheaded aristocrats, some of whom she knows?

Spanning five years, from the budding revolution to the Reign of Terror, Madame Tussaud brings us into the world of an incredible heroine whose talent for wax modeling saved her life and preserved the faces of a vanished kingdom.

For a chance to win my spare copy of Madame Tussaud, here’s your question: what’s your favorite novel or movie set during the French Revolution?

The winner will be announced tomorrow!

24 Comments

  1. Melanie Weiss on December 4, 2017 at 12:32 pm

    Oh! What a lovely giveaway! I’d say Dangerous Liaisons…

  2. Christine on December 4, 2017 at 12:36 pm

    Hmm, I don’t think I’ve read or seen too much set in that period (need to remedy that). So I’ll say the Nob and Nobility episode of Blackadder, or A Tale of Two Cities!

    • Freya on December 4, 2017 at 1:09 pm

      Yay, Blackadder!!!

  3. Freya on December 4, 2017 at 1:12 pm

    I love The Scarlet Pimpernel in all his incarnations, but Leslie Howard is my favorite. <3

  4. Stephanie on December 4, 2017 at 1:28 pm

    The Eight! It’s actually two stories that intertwine, but one is set during the Reign of Terror and the aftermath.

  5. Daniele K on December 4, 2017 at 1:36 pm

    Les Miserables. Thank you for the chance to win.

  6. Regina Garza Mitchell on December 4, 2017 at 1:46 pm

    The Gods are Thirsty by Tanith Lee

  7. Randi Riddle on December 4, 2017 at 1:53 pm

    A Tale of Two cities, always!

  8. Valerie on December 4, 2017 at 2:06 pm

    Black Adder cannot be beat!

    • Valerie on December 4, 2017 at 2:08 pm

      Ok, Mel Brooks’ History of the World Part 1 has a hilarious French Revolution sketch in it. It’s good ta be the King! ?

  9. Kylene on December 4, 2017 at 2:13 pm

    The Forbidden Rose by Joanna Bourne

  10. Susan Thomas on December 4, 2017 at 2:20 pm

    the movie Marie Antionette

  11. Mel Parraga on December 4, 2017 at 2:26 pm

    Dancing to the Precipice by Caroline Moorehead ?

  12. Linda May on December 4, 2017 at 4:38 pm

    Dangerous Liasons. Thanks for your generosity.

  13. Sheila churchill on December 4, 2017 at 6:01 pm

    Do I have to choose between Sydney Carton and Percy Blakeney? I guess I will go with The Scarlet Pimpernel, only because he inspired the Pink Carnation!

  14. Courtney on December 4, 2017 at 7:30 pm

    What a coincidence…I was eyeing this one up in B&N earlier! And I haven’t read a lot in this period, but Carolyn Meyer has one about Marie Antoinette that I liked. The Bad Queen, I think it was called.

  15. Calli Fox on December 4, 2017 at 8:04 pm

    I’ve read a few books on Marie Antoinette but I liked The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette best.

  16. cathleen on December 4, 2017 at 8:06 pm

    definitely A Tale of Two Cities, although The Forbidden Rose (Joanna Bourne) is awesome.
    thank you for your kindness.

  17. jennifer fairchild on December 4, 2017 at 9:29 pm

    Les Miserables. The musical!!!

  18. Amy M on December 4, 2017 at 10:30 pm

    When I was a teenager, I found a book called Jacobin’s Daughter by Joanne Williamson at a library book sale. I read and reread that book a gazillion times. It’s probably still my favorite.

  19. Dianne Casey on December 4, 2017 at 10:49 pm

    Dangerous Liaisons. Thanks for the chance.

  20. Miss Eliza on December 5, 2017 at 1:14 am

    I’m going VERY specific in saying the National Theatre Live broadcast of Dangerous Liaisons with Dominic West, it was unbelievable, I cried so much. Also, I don’t need to be entered, I have and love this book, just wanted to say that EVERYONE should enter because it’s awesome.

  21. Tara on December 5, 2017 at 6:37 am

    I’m so excited! I love Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran 🙂

    My favorite French Revolution book would have to be Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser. I loved reading about every facet of her life and the revolution brewing around her.

  22. Liz on December 5, 2017 at 12:13 pm

    The Scarlet Pimpernel, of course. But, a close second is City of Darkness, City of Light by Marge Piercy.

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