There Were Three of us in the Relationship: The Secret Letters of Marie Antoinette Vol 1.

Author Margaret Anne Macleod

Published by Isaac MacDonald

£9.99

ISBN 978-0-95591-0-9

I can’t believe this hasn’t been done before (tell me if it has, please!). This fascinating book contains letters written between Marie Antoinette, her mother Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria, and her mother's ambassador to France, Count Mercy.

These letters, some of which have been translated for the first time, tell the story of Marie Antoinette’s reign and of course her inevitable slide towards her tragic demise.

This isn’t just for history buffs – it reads almost like a novel – and this first volume charts Marie Antoinette’s life from the time she came to France as a 14 year-old in 1770, to her mother’s death in 1780. It is clear to see how events will eventually unfold, leading to her public execution only a decade later, in 1793, but we’ll have to wait for that story – that comes in Volume 2.