Book Description

Constance Wright, whose Silver Collar Boy and A Chance for Glory have won her critical acclaim and a devoted audience here and abroad, has now written a fascinating biography of a patriot’s wife, Madame de Lafayette. With its delicate rendering of a woman’s emotion and a nation’s mood, this book will long be cherished both as a poignant narrative and as an unerring picture of a departed world. Adrienne de Noailles married the handsome Marquis de Lafayette in 1774, when she was fourteen and he but two years older. The marriage had been arranged by her parents, and neither the bride nor bridegroom could be said to have been in love. Yet in 1781, when Lafayette returned from fighting in the American Revolution, she was prepared to risk her life on his behalf. Adrienne’s deep love for Lafayette, and her spiritual devotion to the Church, sustained her during the dark days of the French Revolution and its nightmarish Reign of Terror. Lafayette, who had to flee Paris for his life, was arrested outside France. Then, “with streetwalkers and nuns, pickpockets and duchesses,” Adrienne was confined in a Paris prison. When she finally won her release, after several years of unimaginable horror, she sought and gained permission to live with her husband in his squalid Austrian cell. Constance Wright has drawn an inspiring portrait of a woman whose extraordinary faith places her among the true heroines of history. “This life story, with its background of the French revolutions, the harsh life of the titled captives, the horrors of the executions and the long, frustrating efforts to be free, is one of selfless dedication and pure motives that has a quiet glow.”—Kirkus Review