Marie Antoinette's Darkest Days

Prisoner No. 280 in the Conciergerie

By: Will Bashor

Narrated by: Aaron Killian

This compelling book begins on the 2nd of August 1793, the day Marie Antoinette was torn from her family's arms and escorted from the Temple to the Conciergerie, a thick-walled fortress turned prison. It was also known as the "waiting room for the guillotine" because prisoners only spent a day or two here before their conviction and subsequent execution. The ex-queen surely knew her days were numbered, but she could never have known that two and a half months would pass before she would finally stand trial and be convicted of the most ungodly charges.

Will Bashor traces the final days of the prisoner registered only as Widow Capet, No. 280, a time that was a cruel mixture of grandeur, humiliation, and terror. Marie Antoinette's reign amidst the splendors of the court of Versailles is a familiar story, but her final imprisonment in a fetid, dank dungeon is a little-known coda to a once-charmed life. Her 76 days in this terrifying prison can only be described as the darkest and most horrific of the fallen queen's life, vividly recaptured in this richly researched history.

The book is published by Rowman & Littlefield.

©2016 Rowman and Littlefield (P)2017 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"Biography buffs and lovers of historical fiction will enjoy this work" ( Library Journal)

"An entertaining, well-researched work that will particularly interest students of cultural history and the French Revolution." ( Kirkus)

Marie Antoinette's Darkest Days

I think it is aGood Read ( listen) enjoyed and it would recommend to history buff.

Great for historians

I liked details of the book. I bought the kindle edition a few years ago to support my case on a finale paper for a class I was in. I liked the book so much I decided to listen to it this time around.
I feel like it reads like a novel, but that may be subjective. There are a lot of names the thrown around in the book, so beware if you aren’t quite paying full attention at times.
I’ve listened to a few other books pertaining to this section of the 1789 Revolution and this one gave me some new insights that I hadn’t heard before— mostly about the material effects of Marie Antoinette.
This is great for historians and history students— and also for the people who actually want to learn more than: she did not say “let them eat cake”.
The narrator tries his best to give voices to the different people speaking but sometimes his tone is a little dull, but if you can get past that and into the sheer dramatics of this time in the Revolution then go for it!