Author(s): Frances Mossiker

History

A fascinating true-crime story involving Marie-Antoinette, set in the period of Revolutionary France Four years before the French Revolution some priceless diamonds - they cost 1.8m francs, 'the price of a battleship' - were purchased in elaborate secrecy from the court jeweller of France, presumably for Marie Antoinette and at her own instructions. The necklace - not yet paid for - was delivered into the hands of Cardinal Prince de Rohan, first prelate of the Church of France. He in turn gave it to the Countess de La Motte-Valois, who claimed to be acting for the Queen. Although essentially an innocent bystander amidst this chicanery, Marie Antoinette became embroiled in a scandal which fatally weakened the monarchy. About the Author: Frances Sanger Mossiker was born in Dallas in 1906. She studied French and Romance languages at Smith College, Barnard College, and the Sorbonne. The New York Times said upon her death on May 9, 1975, 'She wrote in a way that combined painstaking attention to detail with a lively style that made her a best-selling author on both sides of the Atlantic.'