ROYAL MERRY-GO ROUND

by F. W. Kenyon ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 15, 1954

Louis XV seems to have come down in history chiefly through the fame- or the reverse- of his mistresses, of whom Madame de Pompadour and Madame du Barry are the names best known today. The recent biography of Madame de Pompadour by David M. Smythe (see P. 34-1953) has restored a somewhat tattered fame and may provide some factual background of interest in this fictional biography of the man and his period. But the chief appeal of Royal Merry-Go Round lies in the portrait of Louis himself, a child-king wedded while toys were still his standard of delight to the Polish princess, Marie Leszczynska, who loved him in a strange, not wholly maternal way, and tried in vain to maintain some dignity in a court that shuttled back and forth in intrigue, servility, extravagance and power politics. These historical novels of F. W. Kenyon (the last was Josephine's story, The Emperor's Lady- see P. 198-1953) are more important as portraits of a period and a way of life than, this reader feels, significant as interpretation of character. The market is being surfeited, possibly, with stories of the French court. How much it can absorb is a moot question. This-on its own- is good reading though thin narrative.

Pub Date: March 15, 1954

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Crowell

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1954

Categories: FICTION