Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette

Q: Do I have to buy the ebook to participate in a book club?

No, you don’t have to buy the ebook to participate, but we do recommend it to get the most out of your club. There are several premium social reading features that are only available when you buy the ebook, like annotations, reactions, comment threads, resources, discussion prompts, and more, all embedded right in the text. It’s a unique and immersive way to read.

Q: Why can’t I buy the ebook on the app?

It’s annoying, we know. App store rules prevent us from selling directly in the app, so for now you can only purchase ebooks on our website. Don’t worry: when you purchase an ebook on the web, it’s automatically added to your bookshelf in the app.

Q: How is Fable’s reader different from Kindle?

Kindle is a straightforward e-reader; Fable is an interactive e-reader that includes social features inside the ebooks. When you read an ebook on Fable, you can see and react to the text with others in real time. Start a discussion, share highlights and quotes, add emoji reactions—all of it lives right inside the book. It’s hard to explain and easy to see, so we recommend reading the free sample in one of our most active clubs to get a feel for it.

Q: Do you sell physical books too?

We do not sell physical books at this time. Wish we did? Let us know why here!

Q: Are book clubs free to join on Fable?

Most of our clubs are completely free to join. The only exceptions are clubs marked as “Premium” or “Career Development,” which do require a fee. You can find out more on each club’s detail page.

Q: How do I start a book club with this book on Fable?

The first step is to download the Fable app. From there, you’ll be able to create your own private or public book club and invite others to read with you. Once your club is created, click on the plus sign under “Currently reading” and search for this book to add it to your club.

By Sena Jeter Naslund

Publisher Description

Marie Antoinette was a child of fourteen when her mother, the Empress of Austria, arranged for her to leave her family and her country to become the wife of the fifteen-year-old Dauphin, the future King of France. Coming of age in the most public of arenas—eager to be a good wife and strong queen—she warmly embraces her adopted nation and its citizens. She shows her new husband nothing but love and encouragement, though he repeatedly fails to consummate their marriage and in so doing is unable to give what she and the people of France desire most: a child and an heir to the throne. Deeply disappointed and isolated in her own intimate circle, and apart from the social life of the court, she allows herself to remain ignorant of the country's growing economic and political crises, even as poor harvests, bitter winters, war debts, and poverty precipitate rebellion and revenge. The young queen, once beloved by the common folk, becomes a target of scorn, cruelty, and hatred as she, the court's nobles, and the rest of the royal family are caught up in the nightmarish violence of a murderous time called "the Terror."

With penetrating insight and with wondrous narrative skill, Sena Jeter Naslund offers an intimate, fresh, heartbreaking, and dramatic reimagining of this truly compelling woman that goes far beyond popular myth—and she makes a bygone time of tumultuous change as real to us as the one we are living in now.

Download the free Fable app

Stay organized

Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.

Build a better TBR

Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building tool

Rate and review

Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tags

Curate your feed

Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities

Stay organized

Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.

Build a better TBR

Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building tool

Rate and review

Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tags

Curate your feed

Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities

72 Reviews

3.5

Sarah Nueschen

Created 5 months ago

Maria Alexia

Created 8 months ago

Justacupofjo

Created over 1 year ago

Kate Freed

Created over 1 year ago

Kamryn Koble

Created over 1 year ago

“For such an exciting time in history, Sena Jeter Naslund mainly focuses on Marie Antoinette's clothing and bosom. I completed this 600 page volume in a matter of five days, often reading more than a hundred in a sitting; however, there is so much froth and fluff between sentences of actual value that I skimmed frequently. Ah, Marie Antoinette. She did not actually declare the infamous phrase of "If they have no bread, then let them eat cake." According to Naslund, the retort will not be found in the volume as Antoinette never said it - the heartless sentence was the speech of another queen, the wife of Louis XIV, not Louis XVI. She remains one of the most well-known historical figures of all time, called "the last queen of France." And yet, I believe every fourth word in the novel was "bosom," "breast," "nipple," or some other word regarding the female chest. Perhaps Maria Antonia was truly as infatuated with her own curves as Naslund presents her to be. But does that make for good historical fiction? Absolutely not. As joyous as erotic royal fiction is, it is not what I was seeking from a literary piece such as this. The novel is presented as a diary of sorts, a first-person account from Toniette herself. It is strikingly personal, and yet hampered by the narrator. While she is dynamic- one of the most compelling aspects of the novel was seeing her mature throughout her thirty-some years - she is a quite flat character Every other main figure is painfully flat and static, making it hard to sympathize with anyone as heads begin to roll. Along with the tragic characterization, the pacing is just off. There doesn't seem to be a true structure until the "climax" (can you even call the beheading a climax? It wraps the novel up and is painfully anticlimatic). That being said, the protagonist does have desires - but when it is so difficult to feel any sort of passion toward her, whether it be hatred or love, they fall flat. Many other reviewers comment on Naslund's writing style. It is indeed unique, quite floral and lovely; although, it hampers the story and doesn't contribute to characterization or plot. I'll read six paragraphs about a fountain if it pertains to the overall story. If it doesn't, please take a red pen to it, and quick. It's more than a bit amateur how much fluff is included. Frequently, there would be countless languid phrases only to be sandwiched between nothing but "telling," no "showing" to be seen at all. The only sentence I underlined in my copy has to be shared: "I lick the roof of my mouth, that tiny room where the fleshy tongue must live." If you need this book to be summarized in one sentence, let it be that. Do I regret reading this? No, despite all of the above flaws I mentioned. If you're a lover of the French Revolution or Marie Antoinette, I encourage you to pick this up and thumb through it. It's certainly unique, with or without its quirky faults.”

About Sena Jeter Naslund

Sena Jeter Naslund is a cofounder and program director of the Spalding University (Louisville) brief-residency MFA in Writing, where she edits The Louisville Review and Fleur-de-Lis Press. A winner of the Harper Lee Award and the Southeastern Library Association Fiction award, she is the author of eight previous works of fiction, including Ahab's Wife, a finalist for the Orange Prize. She recently retired from her position as Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Louisville.