Du Plessix Gray has written a work of historical fiction, describing the secret love affair between Marie Antoinette, the ill-fated queen of France, and the Swedish Count Axel von Fersen. The story is presented as von Fersen's memoirs, as edited after his death by his sister Sophie.
Du Plessix Gray quotes extensively from von Fersen's actual correspondence and his journals as she tells this story, from the Count's first meeting with the then Dauphine at a masquerade ball in 1774, until his death at the hands of a mob in Stockholm in 1810.
As part of the privileged inner circle of royal intimates, von Fersen became the friend, confidant and champion of the Queen and the King and their children. But like everyone else around them, he underestimated the fury unleashed by the Revolution. When the Queen died, Fersen mourned her for the rest of his life.
And yet, this did not prevent him (either before or after her death) from indulging in affairs with other women. Indeed he had a reputation as one of the most notorious philanderers in Europe. In contrast to the more formal tone of most of her narrative, du Plessix Gray has Fersen describe his lovers in crude and explicit terms. The effect is jarring, and makes von Fersen a much less sympathetic character.
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