Book review: “Queen Margot” by Alexandre Dumas
February 17th, 2006 at 10:36 am(Read in Spanish: “La Reina Margot”)
This book is another of Dumas’ classics, along with The Count of Monte-Cristo and The Three Musketeers. Set in the second half of the 16 century, this book tells the story of the royal family of France during and a little after the bloody massacre of Huguenots by the Catholics on St Bartholomew’s Day.
The reigning king of that time was Charles IX, and Margot is his sister, the beautiful Marguerite de Valois. Margot’s marriage and unusual relationship with Henry IV and her love affair with La Mole take a good part of this book, though I didn’t feel that Margot is indeed the main character here, so I find the name of the book a little bit inappropriate to the plot.
Beside creating a lively, moving plot which keeps the reader glued to the chair, Dumas is great with developing his characters. His hate for the “mother queen” - the infamous Catalina de Medicis is well felt, and the book is presents her as a real monster. Overall, the life in the French court at that time was less than pleasant, to say the least, according to the gloomy picture Dumas presents.
Overall, this book is highly recommended. It is written in a light, fast-moving language, sprinkled with fine humor and contains a lot of interesting and important history.
Related posts: