This book was requested when I was young and requested more books than I could possibly read. Sadly, I no longer have access to this book and my tastes have changed. Thus I will not be able to give feedback on this title.

I got accepted to review this book years ago, but unfortunately never got around to reading it. Apologies for this.

Obviously, I've been aware of Marie Antoinette since I started studying world history in school at some point. Basically, I knew she was the Queen of France, she lost her head but not before she revolutionized fashion into much simpler styles which seems needed as at the time ladies were wearing bird cages and toy boats on their heads which seems headache inducing. My first introduction to the diamond necklace affair came through a Nancy Drew computer game I used to play with the kids (which are really fun! I want to play them again now that I don't have to share with kids who can't solve puzzles quick enough) in which the goal was to locate the diamonds in the famous and notorious diamond necklace. As for the hows and whys I was still in the dark but I was definitely intrigued.
This book answered some of the questions I had and left me with more but in the best of ways. I'm fascinated by the necklace and can easily see myself going out and reading everything I can find on the subject and debating answers to questions that will most likely never be answered. The story itself is fascinating and characters are even more interesting. There's Marie Antoinette stuck in the precarious position to end all precarious positions, the greedy and scheming Jeanne of royal birth but not wealth and the Catholic cardinal status hungry and lazy golden child of the Rohan family. Beckman gives enough background to make them come to life and to explain how the diamond necklace affair came to be. While I wouldn't say this is like reading a novel it definitely isn't anywhere near a dry dull textbook. I enjoyed the fact that Beckman states where his information is coming from and freely admits that some information is unreliable at best. He includes a detailed cast of characters at the beginning which is helpful and there are also a lot of footnotes to clarify information. The only negative for me was that I found both of these difficult to benefit from on an ebook. I think this would read better in a print format.
If you're interested in French history and want to know more about this scandalous necklace and all the intrigue that led up to it this book is an interesting, informative and entertaining read.

A great introduction to an enigmatic moment in history, but one that did not sufficiently delve into the consequences for my taste. What stands out is the author's ability to extrapolate from the facts, creating a driving historical narrative as page-turning as any thriller. However, a little more analysis would have been welcome.