by Susie Kelly
Louis seems often to be unkindly portrayed by history, his failings outweighing his virtues. But the more I read about him, the more I gained respect for his positive qualities – his kindness, courtesy, his love for his family, and the courage and dignity he displayed during the many humiliations and ordeals that he faced. Maybe he was greedy and indecisive. Perhaps he didn’t have any idea how to command, and was clumsy and lacking in majestic appearance. But that didn’t make him deserving of his fate. He was naïve enough to believe that to be a good king it was sufficient to be a good man. I became quite fond of him.
Whatever their faults, from what I read they were two people without spite or malice, kind-hearted and well-meaning. Stefan Zweig describes them as ‘living in a circle of planetary admiration, fed on the subtle poison of flattery’. Apart from their children and friends and an abundance of courage, all they had in common was their unsuitability for the position into which they were thrust. If the fates had been kinder to them and not bumped off so many of his ancestors, Louis would have been no more than a minor aristo or a wealthy bourgeois. He could have lived in comfortable and undemanding obscurity, free to devote himself to the things he enjoyed. He would probably have broken his neck out hunting or eaten himself into a heart attack.
Marie-Antoinette, had she not been her mother’s daughter, could have been a sparkling wife for a wealthy man, spending her days in her garden surrounded by children, a few little dogs and some pet lambs, and entertaining her friends with amusing soirées. She would have lived to a ripe old age.
And they would have both been forgotten by history…
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My thanks are due equally to the following, and in no particular order, as they say on the X-factor:
Fena Lee for producing a stunning book cover.
Deborah Rey and Carole Morrow for reading and commenting on the manuscript in its early stages.
Keith Wheeler for his very kind permission to quote the passage written by his father, Harry St Clare Wheeler.
The International Sommelier Guild for permission to quote the interview with Bernard de Nonancourt.
The Tourist Office at Dormans for their permission to use the postcard scene of WWI.
Stephanie Zia, my editor, for having faith in The Valley of Heaven and Hell, for her diligent editing, and her enthusiasm. It has been a joy to work with her.
And, of course, Terry for his (almost) perpetual good humour, for doing all the heavy work, coping with my tantrums and being the perfect travelling mate.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The extracts quoted in this ebook are taken from:
Memoirs of the Private Life of Marie Antoinette by Madame Campan, 1818, public domain.
Paris War Days by Charles Inman Bernard, Openlibrary.org., 1914, public domain.
Vive la France by E Alexander Powell, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1915; William Heinemann, London 1916, public domain.
Memoirs of Marie-Thérèse Charlotte, Duchess of Angoulême , first published by Librairie E. Plon, Nourrit Et Cie, Imprimeurs-Éditeurs, bibliothèque nationale de France. English translation by John Wilson Croker, pub. John Murray, London 1923, public domain.
La Route de Varennes, Alexandre Dumas père, Michel Lévy Frères, Paris, 1860, public domain.
A Popular History of France, François Guizot, translated by Robert Black, Estes and Lauriat, 1876, public domain.
There’s A Girl In Chateau-Thierry words by E Ray Goetz, 1919, public domain.
Protest Against the Tower of Monsieur Eiffel, Le Temps 14 Feb 1887 public domain
Diary of Kurt Hesse Record of the Great War, Vol VI, ed Charles F. Horne, National Alumni 1923, public domain.
A Girl’s Song from ‘Flower of Youth: Poems in War Time’ Katherine Tynan. London: Sidgwick & Jackson 1915, public domain.
Memories of Harry St Clare Wheeler Published on the website of his family, www.wheelerfolk.org and quoted with their kind permission.
The International Sommelier Guild News, June 2004, article published with their kind permission.
The Diaries of Louis XVI, public domain.
Further reading:
Marie-Antoinette – Portrait of an Average Woman by Stefan Zweig. First published by Insel Verlag, Leipzig, 1932; English translation by Eden and Cedar Paul 1933 The Viking Press, Inc.; current edition pub. Grove, 2002.
Treasures of the World – The French Kings by Frederic V Grunfeld, Stonehenge, 1982.
Fighting the Flying Circus by Eddie Rickenbacker. First published by Frederick A Stokes Company, 1919. Kindle edition published by Doubleday, 2009.
Le Mouvement Perpétuel, Histoire de l’Hôpital Américain de Paris 1906-1989 Nicole Fouché, Pub Eres, Toulouse, 1992
IMAGES
Unless otherwise stated, all images copyright Susie Kelly.
C11: B/W Image, Dormans, 1918 reproduced with the kind permission of The Tourist Office, Dormans.
The Maps:
The maps contained in this book are notional. Any attempt to use them for navigation purposes is inevitably doomed to frustration and failure. For a detailed look at the area on a map, the publishers suggest About France’s clickable and zoomable online map:
http://about-france.com/tourism/local-map-france.htm
The area travelled by Susie, Terry, Louis XV1 and Marie Antoinette can be seen if you zoom into the Paris/Reims part of the map in NE France.
Paintings and Illustrations:
C1: Marnes Le Coquettes Coat of Arms Image produced by Henry Salomé for the Blason Project of Francophone Wikimedia Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
C2: The Young Marie-Antoinette 1769, Portrait by Joseph Ducreux, pastel, Versailles. Image in public domain taken from Wikipedia.
C14: Marie Antoinette on the Way to the Guillotine, sketch by Jacques-Louis David, Louvre. Image in public domain taken from Wikipedia.
SUSIE KELLY
Born a Londoner, Susie Kelly spent most of the first 25 years of her life in Kenya, and now lives in south-west France with her husband and assorted animals. She believes that her explosive temper is a legacy from her Irish-American grandfather, but has no idea who to blame for her incompetence as a housewife. Still, she’s very kind to animals, small children and elderly people. Susie particularly enjoys exploring the road less travelled, discovering the lives and events of lesser-known places. The extraordinary biography detailing her early years growing up in Africa, I Wish I Could Say I Was Sorry..., is a US Amazon Paid Top 100 title. Susie donates a generous 25% of her royalties from The Valley of Heaven and Hell to charity – shared equally between Cancer Research and Tower Hill Stables Sanctuary in Essex.
MORE TRAVELS WITH SUSIE
I Wish I Could Say I Was Sorry Susie’s extraordinary, bestselling, childhood memoir. “This memoir kept me up. From the grey privations of postwar London to exotic colonial Kenya, I could not stop reading this. An almost idyllic early girlhood that becomes more and more dysfunctional. What a story!” Kindle & paperback.
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Safari Ants, Baggy Pants & Elephants More than 40 years after leaving Kenya, Susie unexpectedly finds herself returning for a safari organised by an old friend. She takes readers from five star hotels to luxury tents in the wilderness, and to poverty in Nairobi's slums, describing a journey of joy, excitement, discovery, nostalgia, of new friendships and encounters of the very close kind with Kenya’s majestic wildlife. Forgotten memories come flooding back as she revisits the scenes of her childhood and adolescence, so movingly portrayed in her popular memoir I Wish I Could Say I Was Sorry, many of them changed beyond recognition.
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La Vie En Rose: Notes From Rural France Dreams are strange and unpredictable, and sometime so is la vie en rose. A pick from some of the best bits of Susie's blog diaries, revealing the minutiae of day to day life in rural France. A bargain 99c/99p must-read for Susie Kelly fans and anybody thinking of,
or dreaming of, moving to France.
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Best Foot Forward: A 500-Mile Walk Through Hidden France Susie leaves her remote French home and menagerie of animals to a Texan, who’s never set foot in France before and doesn’t speak a word of the language, to hike solo from one side of France to the other. Kindle, audiobook & paperback.
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Travels With Tinkerbelle: 6,000 Miles Around France In A Mechanical Wreck Join Susie, Terry and 2 huge dogs on a 6,000 mile journey around the perimeter of France. Kindle & paperback.
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Swallows & Robins: The Laughs and Tears Of A Holiday Home Owner Susie stays at home and attempts to run two holiday gites, not helped by the cleaning lady from hell. Kindle & paperback.
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The Susie Kelly Boxed Set 4 of Susie Kelly’s top titles, including this one.
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Two Steps Backward The trials and tribulations of moving a family and many animals from the UK to a run-down smallholding in SW France. Paperback only, published by Bantam.
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The Lazy Cook (1) Quick & Easy Meatless Meals The first of Susie's delightful round-ups of her favourite quick, simple, easy recipes, sprinkled with anecdote and humour.
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The Lazy Cook (2) Quick & Easy Sweet Treats ‘I like a dessert to make me feel slightly guilty about eating it, but not enough to make me stop.’
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CHAT WITH SUSIE
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THE END
Copyright Susie Kelly 2010
Published by Blackbird Digital Books, London.
Cover design by Fena Lee (http://pheeena.co.cc)
Bike image by Hector Herrera Jr herreraisyodaddy at deviantArt
All rights reserved. Except in the case of brief quotations quoted in reviews or critical articles, no part of this ebook may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this ebook. The moral right of the author has been asserted.
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