I’m thrilled to share some book news! My French Revolution novel, The Wardrobe Mistress, centred around Marie Antoinette’s inner circle and told from the point of view of one of her wardrobe women, has found a new home. Bookouture will be issuing a new edition in March 2021. And later on that year, I’ll be sharing a new historical novel as well. Stay tuned for more details on that in the coming months.
It’s been quite a while since I had book news, but today I’m so pleased to share that The Wardrobe Mistress is available in audiobook format! And it has a mysterious, sexy new cover! I think it strongly conveys the espionage and romance elements, and I love that Giselle is wearing gloves in it. Fashion, and how it represented revolutionary fervour, is a big element of the story and I actually did tons of research about the fancy perfumed gloves Marie Antoinette wore and liked to give to her friends as gifts.
Emily Ellet did an amazing job narrating the story. As soon as I heard her sample, I felt like she captured Giselle’s tone perfectly!
Book description, in case you missed it:
A beautiful debut about Giselle, one of Marie Antoinette’s wardrobe women, who casually spies during the French Revolution, torn between her loyalty to the queen and growing unrest in the country.
It’s Giselle Aubry’s first time at court in Versailles. At 16, she is one of Marie Antoinette’s newest wardrobe ladies in awe of the glamorous queen and her opulent palace life. A budding designer, it’s a dream come true to work with the beautiful fabrics and jewels. Every few weeks she returns home to visit her family in Paris where rumors of revolution are growing.
From her position in the royal household, Giselle is poised to see both sides of the tensions erupting throughout Paris. When her uncle, a retired member of the secret spy ring that worked for King Louis XV, suggests that she casually report on the Queen as a game, she leaps at the chance. Spying seems like an adventure and an exciting way to privately support the ideals taking the countryside and Léon Gauvain, the handsome watchmaker who courts her, by storm.
But as the revolution continues to gain momentum, and Giselle grows closer to the Queen, one of her few trusted servants, she finds herself dangerously torn. Violence is escalating. She must choose where her true loyalty lies, or risk losing everything…maybe even her head.
The Wardrobe Mistress is Meghan Masterson’s fascinating and visceral debut, not to be missed.