Madame Tussaud

A Novel of the French Revolution

By: Michelle Moran

Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor

Length: 15 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

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 Elisabeth, 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 cafes 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? More important, 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?

©2011 Michelle Moran (P)2011 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Moran is a sprightly and gimlet-eyed writer, so this should be fun - and a possible breakout." ( Library Journal)

Great Insight to the French revolution

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. I enjoy history when it comes alive. This made it very real and gave insights into the various personalities involved.

What about Rosalyn Landor’s performance did you like?

Yes. She was very pleasant to listen to.

Madame Tussaud-An Exquisite Experience

If you could sum up Madame Tussaud in three words, what would they be?

Captivating Transformative Journey

What other book might you compare Madame Tussaud to and why?

Living the French Revolution and the Age of Napoleon, Narrated by Professor Suzanne M. Desan is similar in a sense that you get a feel for what people experienced during the French Revolution.

Have you listened to any of Rosalyn Landor’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This is the first of Rosalyn Landor's performances that I've listened to but I plan to listen to more!

If you could rename Madame Tussaud, what would you call it?

"Madame Tussaud: Angel of Death"

Any additional comments?

This AUDIO book has given me the gift of the most profound insight into the life of people in France during the French Revolution. I was completely enthralled during the entire listening of this enactment. And yet, what I received from listening to this book is beyond words. I was transported into those times as if I were truly there. I am supremely grateful to Ms. Landor's talent for bringing to life the very real pathos of these very people. In a sense, she has immortalized them further into our hearts.

Historical Fiction With An Attempt for Accuracy

This is not a history book, but the author claims a strong attempt to be historically accurate. The book is fiction and seems biased in favor of royal autocratic rule, The leading character only shows a modest sympathy for the plight of the poor.

The central character lived and left a verifiable history. She taught royalty and was modestly wealthy even during times when the population was starving. Her perspective in the book and perhaps in her historical records would thus be skewed.

None the less, the book is interesting and may tell an accurate view of the French revolution from the perspective of Madam Tussaud even if her view did not accurately reflect the view of a major portion of the population.

Both author and narrator disappointing

I am a solid fan of Rosalyn Landor, and will download books she narrates with confidence that she will not disappoint. Unfortunately, in this case, she does. The entire book is read in a lugubrious monotone. I understand that the topic is not frivolous, but the novel encompasses scenes of action and spirited exchanges, after all, and all are couched in the same slow-paced, die-away tone.

Particularly distracting are the men's voices. Indistinguishable, and each and every one - each and every time - sound pompous and indignant. One has to listen carefully to the words in order to put their meaning in proper context. Finally - Tussaud's mother is German, granted, but must all her lines be read in a harsh, guttural accent? OK. Got it. She's German. Now, please, couldn't you tone it down a bit?

The novel itself is not among Moran's finest efforts. Linear, repetitive - in a word, boring. The protagonist herself is not likable, in my opinion. Overall, I could leave the room with the book playing and return 10 minutes later without feeling I'd missed anything of note. Another pompous-sounding male voice - Jefferson? Robespierre? Louis XVI? - well, didn't really matter, in the end.

inspiring

This novel was very inspiring....so much that I went to the nearest Madame Tussauds to my home 8n San Francisco and plan to visit more! I also now want to visit France whcih was the last European country on my list.

Very enjoyable

If you are a fan of historical fiction, this is for you! I love the narrator’s voice and the story is remarkable!

Tales from a turbulent time

As a high schooler in the UK we covered the French Revolution in some depth, round about the same time I had roles in various productions centered around those events so I used to think that even all these years later I had a reasonably good handle on that period. As it turns out I really didn’t. The revolution took place over a longer period than I remember and was both more strange and bloody than I ever imagined. This story retells the stunning events of those times through the eyes of Madame Tussaud. Our heroine gives modeling lessons to some of the royal family whist entertaining many of the instigators of the revolution in the rooms above their exhibit. It’s a terrifically successful device, allowing the reader access to both sides of the events through the same perspective. The wax works as the CNN of their day, with the displays changing almost day by day to mirror the rapidly changing events.
The author maintains historic accuracy whilst weaving a dramatic narrative through the protagonists; it feels authentic without being dry or dull. If I have any criticism; the story does wander a little into romantic fiction in a few spots, they are slight transgressions and she rapidly snaps back. If you have ever wondered about that turbulent time or wandered through the modern wax works inspired by the genius of Tussaud you will find this tale gripping. It’s also fascinating for the history enthusiast as it brings great detail and color to the events. For example; in modern terms the French Royal family and their many thousands of hangers on cost the French economy 166Bn a year….which is a lot when many of your populace are starving in the streets. It was also fascinating to see how the extremists of the time foreshadowed the excesses in thought and deed we have seen many times since, the same kind of madness which gripped Fascist Germany, Stains Russia and Pol Pots Cambodia.

I loved this book!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Thoroughly engaging. Entertaining and INFORMATIVE. The book so got my mind involved that I went to Wikipedia to look up events and characters.

What did you like best about this story?

The characters were alive and captivating.

Disconcerting

Don't know how to rate this since I haven't finished it, however, I am finding it a bit disconcerting that the reader, who must be British, has the French King & Queen, as well as other French characters, speaking with a British accent, even though the reader's French pronunciation of names is very good. What was she thinking? Hope the story eventually makes me forget the accents!

REVOLUTION

Michelle Moran weaves a tapestry of history from threads in Madame Tussaud’s life as a famous wax museum modeler and entrepreneur that lives through the French revolution. Madame Tussaud is a merchant; a representative of a growing middle class in France.

Though one cannot fairly compare one nation’s revolution with another, France’s revolution is a brutal example of the unleashed fury of a suppressed people. There is a message in Moran’s story; i.e. in a revolution, a price will be paid in blood and tears by both rulers and ruled. Moran notes that an estimated 40,000 people were beheaded; 70%-80% of the guillotined victims were from the Third Estate; the remainder–the clergy and aristocracy.

Napoleon Bonaparte becomes emperor in 1804. Who won; who lost?–mostly the lower classes, the workers, the poor, the disenfranchised, but no class escaped the anarchy and destruction of revolution. France is no longer a monarchy but only a long-suffering indigenous population made it so–revolution may be a harbinger of freedom but reality is left to time and history.