Bøger af Chantal Thomas

To af Frankrigs store døtre bærer begge to navnet Chantal Thomas(s). Den ene kreerer lingerie i luksusklassen. Den anden skriver romaner og essays i mesterklassen.Ikke at forveksle. Og dog. Begge født lige efter krigen. To stærke kvinder, der på hver sit felt har sat solide aftryk på fransk kultur- og kunstliv. Begges kreationer, der beskrives som sjældne skønheder, strålende og smukke.Den sidste Chantal Thomas har med Tidevandsminder skrevet en smuk og rørende roman om sin frigjorte og anarkistiske moder, der forlader mand og børn for bogstaveligtalt at svømme. I floder, i søer, i bassinet på Versaille, i Atlanterhavet og selvfølgelig Middelhavet ved Menton.En bog om et giftigt moder/datter forhold, der trods fravær og skuffelser alligevel ikke kan slipper hinanden. En datter, der tager moderens sind til sig og tager farve af det. Og som svømmer passioneret som hende.Chantal Thomas er fransk forfatter, essayist, dramatiker og filosof med speciale i 1800-tals litteratur.Thomas er født i 1945 og tilbragte sin barndom ved havet i Arcachon og bor i dag i Paris.Thomas er forfatter til adskillige essays, erinderinger, noveller of romaner om bl.a. Sade, Casanova og Marie-Antoinette. Hun fik i 2002 den prestigiøse Pris Femina for sin debutroman “Les adieux à la Reine” om de sidste dage ved hoffet i Versaille op til Den franske revolution. Filmatiseret i 2012.

It was once the job of Madame Agathe-Sidonie Laborde to read books aloud to Marie-Antoinette. Now exiled in Vienna, she looks back twenty-one years to the legendary opulence of Versailles and meticulously reconstructs July 14, 15, and 16 of 1789.When Agathe-Sidonie is summoned to the Queen's side on the morning of the 14th, Versailles is a miniature universe, sparkling with every outward appearance of happiness and power, peopled with nobles of minutely calibrated rank, and run according to a hundred-year-old ritual called the Perfect Day. But with the shocking news that someone has woken the King in the night, order begins to disintegrate and word of the fall of the Bastille seeps into court. Soon Versailles's beauty is nothing more than a shell encasing rising panic and chaos. Agathe-Sidonie watches as the Queen's attempts to flee are aborted; her most intimate friend betrays her; and the King, appearing to sleepwalk through this crisis, never alters his routine of visiting the Apollo Salon several times a day to consult a giant crystal thermometer.From the tiniest garret to the Hall of Mirrors, where Marie-Antoinette stands alone and terrified in the dark, Chantal Thomas shows us a world on the edge of oblivion and an intimate portrait of the woman who, like "fire in motion," was its center.

Set in the French and Spanish courts of the eighteenth century, this novel is based on a true story about the fate of two young princesses caught in the intrigues and secrets of the moment Philippe d'Orléans, the regent of France, has a gangrenous heart-the result of a life of debauchery, alcohol, power, and flattery. One morning in 1721, he decides to marry eleven-year-old Louis XV to the daughter of Philippe V of Spain, who is only four. Orléans hopes this will tie his kingdom to Spain. But were Louis to die without begetting an heir-the likeliness of which is greatly increased by having a child bride-Orléans himself would finally be king. Orléans tosses his own daughter into the bargain, the twelve-year-old Mlle de Montpensier, who will marry the Prince of Asturias, the heir to the Spanish throne. The Spanish court enthusiastically agrees and arrangements are made. The two nations trade their princesses in a grand ceremony in 1722, making bonds that should end the historical conflict. Nothing turns out as expected.

Chantal Thomas presents the history of the mythification of one of the most infamous queens in all history, whose execution still fascinates us today.