Dancing To The Precipice: Lucie Dillon, Marquise De La Tour Du Pin And The French Revolution (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
If you are at all interested in social history in France, before, during and after the revolution you will find this book absolutely impossible to put down. Moorehead guides you through the dying days of ancien regime France and gives just enough political history - without becoming tedious - throughout this most turbulent period of French history. She gives the reader fascinating little vignettes about court life, how the fallen nobles survived the revolution and pieced their lives together after the Terror and living in a new, more meritocratic France. Lucie was remarkably and consistently at the right time and in the right place throughout her life; she knew Louis XVI, Napoleon, Jefferson, Franklin - truly a biography-worthy subject and the author does her terrific justice. Highly recommended and gripping read. I did vacillate over rating this book. Probably a 3.5 if I forgive the errors. When it comes to important dates in history one might regard these errors as typing errors, however when it comes to describing events it can be perhaps debatable due to the numerous opinions that are out there… Can all these add up to merely a faux pas? Perhaps. I found Moorehead's description of various people attached to the main character bland and uninteresting though she managed to show strength with the narration of events surrounding the main character. Easy to read and interesting none the less. It is always a challenge to tell the story of woman in history as we often have little to go on. However, a revised biography of Lucie de la Tour du Pin was long overdue and I’m grateful that the task was undertaken in a not unpleasant style by a fine writer.
What do You think about Dancing To The Precipice: Lucie Dillon, Marquise De La Tour Du Pin And The French Revolution (2009)?
Loved this book, it gave me an entirely new perspective of life during the French Revolution.
—zlpatel
This books is GREAT! Very interesting true story based on her memoirs/letters.
—omankeh98
