History Corner: Book Review and Giveaway (with BONUS): Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran

on February 10, 2011

** this giveaway is closed **

When I first started this blog, Michelle was one of the first 'official' book giveaways I had- her Cleopatra's Daughter signed edition giveaway was huge to me at around 50 entries! I was so happy to host the giveaway!

I am even more happy to announce her NEW book being released on the 15th! Michelle is a WONDERFUL fiction writer, who truly researches her books, hands on, where the events will occur and her books are amazing. This is a super giveaway, not only because of the book, but the EXTRA that Michelle is throwing in! Read on!

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

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, even politics. Her customers hail from every walk of life, and when word arrives that the royals themselves are coming to see their likenesses, Marie never dreams that the king’s sister will request her presence at Versailles as a royal tutor in wax sculpting. Yet when a letter with a gold seal is delivered to her home, Marie knows she cannot refuse—even if it means time away from her beloved Salon and her increasingly dear friend, Henri Charles.

As Marie becomes acquainted with her pupil, Princess Élisabeth, she is taken to meet both Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI, 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 to 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 importantly, 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.

Read an excerpt here: http://michellemoran.com/books/tussaud/excerpt.html

About the Author: Michelle Moran was born in the San Fernando Valley, CA. She took an interest in writing from an early age, purchasing Writer's Market and submitting her stories and novellas to publishers from the time she was twelve. When she was accepted into Pomona College she took as many classes as possible in British Literature, particularly Milton, Chaucer, and the Bard. Not surprisingly, she majored in English while she was there.

Following a summer in Israel where she worked as a volunteer archaeologist, she earned an MA from the Claremont Graduate University. Michelle has traveled around the world, from Zimbabwe to India, and her experiences at archaeological sites were what inspired her to write historical fiction. She is the international bestselling author of Nefertiti, The Heretic Queen, and Cleopatra's Daughter. This is her fourth novel. Visit MichelleMoran.com and Michelle's blog at michellemoran.blogspot.com

Review: Now ya'll know we love historical fiction and history in this house (thus the History Corner meme!), so it should be no surprise that I LOVE Michelle's books! When I said she truly researches her books, I mean she find small items that make her books authentic to the time period they are set in and make you WANT to go what is fiction and what is not (course Michelle conveniently gives pretty good Author's Notes at the back of her books to help you out there!). I equate her to Steve Berry in how her research MAKES her books jump off the page as living history.

I was never a huge fan of the history of the French Revolution. I admit, I blame it to having to read Les Miserables, Sophomore year of high school. I just could NOT get into the book. I got through it, but errrr, just did NOT like it. But I know Michelle's writing and I had total faith I would like this book. Maybe because it was current events applicable, or just being older and seeing the French Revolution through both sides, but I did NOT want to put this book down. I literally read til my eyes could NOT keep reading. The book is so detailed that you feel like you are in Versailles and Paris. I kept reading and thinking, WOW, this is sounding a lot like current day Egypt. And then Michelle gives a Thomas Jefferson quote "about the prospects of democracy surviving beyond a single generation: "I predict happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." When you think of Egypt, does that quote seem totally applicable or what? AH, the circle of history repeating itself....

And this is the beauty of Michelle's books- she TEACHES you, makes you think AND gives you a roller coaster of a ride! I never felt so much sympathy for Marie Antoinette, as I did while reading this book- it gives you a different take on how things might have been for her. The failure of the King to "take the reins and ride into battle", as Napoleon later spoke, made more sense after reading this book. I had NO idea about the history of Madame Tussaud's: about how old it was, about how Marie was only 17 when she tutored the King's sister (17 and she was reknown for her art! what a woman for her time period!), or how the museum was the people's 5pm news station/nightly entertainment! Michelle intertwines what we know (the French Revolution, the royals), with what we don't (the Wax Museum's beginnings, how the revolution turned upside down) and makes it all a cohesive story that holds you in its grip from beginning to end. In fact, I think I read the notes section twice, because I just didn't want to LEAVE the book- ALWAYS a sign of a great book! Michelle has outdone herself again and if you don't win the signed edition she is offering, PLEASE go out and buy this book- you will not regret it! It is on my Top 10 list for the year already!

Giveaway:

Winner will receive a SIGNED edition of Madame Tussaud AND

a pair of Marie Antoinette/cupcake earrings!

Entries:

Make sure I have an email address, with your comment,

so I can contact you, if you win!
If I don't have a way to contact you, you will forfeit your win!

USA / Canada

3 day winner's rule : Winner has 3 days to acknowledge they won prize,

and confirm address, if no contact, then new winner will be picked in their place.

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Contest will end on February 20th, at midnight. Winner will be picked by Random Number (random.org) on February 21st, and emailed. As soon as winner's info is received, I will email the winner's info to Michelle, and she will mail the signed book and earrings to the winner!

Disclosure / Disclaimer: I was sent this book, free of charge, for review purposes, by the author herself. She also offered to the additional book and bonus (earrings)for the giveaway, free. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about the book either.