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A review by karaklos
The Women of Chateau Lafayette by Stephanie Dray
3.0
I loved My Dear Hamilton and America’s First Daughter and eagerly anticipated the release of The Women of Chateau Lafayette. I’m sad to say that I didn’t love it. It’s written well with lots of really interesting history and unusual fun tidbits (e.g., women taking tea with their husband’s mistress, Grandma having a penchant for stealing holy relics). Dray does a nice job of putting the reader into the different time periods and bringing the characters to life.
With three time periods though (1774, 1914, and 1939), each with their own set of characters, it was difficult to really engage with any of the stories. I would be engrossed with one character and the next chapter would switch to another time period and character. I would have to reset my mind with each chapter change.
I think this would have been better as two or three separate books. I wanted to learn more about the orphanage and delve a little deeper into the different groups at play during Lafayette’s time. Also, I wanted more connection between 1913 and 1939...I wanted to hear Beatrice and Emily’s voices in 1939. Lastly, for some reason it bugged me that the 1939 character Marthe was fictional while the other two time periods were based on real people. I felt misled lol.
I enjoyed the author’s note and appreciate the tremendous amount of research Dray did.
With three time periods though (1774, 1914, and 1939), each with their own set of characters, it was difficult to really engage with any of the stories. I would be engrossed with one character and the next chapter would switch to another time period and character. I would have to reset my mind with each chapter change.
I think this would have been better as two or three separate books. I wanted to learn more about the orphanage and delve a little deeper into the different groups at play during Lafayette’s time. Also, I wanted more connection between 1913 and 1939...I wanted to hear Beatrice and Emily’s voices in 1939. Lastly, for some reason it bugged me that the 1939 character Marthe was fictional while the other two time periods were based on real people. I felt misled lol.
I enjoyed the author’s note and appreciate the tremendous amount of research Dray did.