Biography Books > Antonia Fraser Biography Books

Advantages: Amazingly rich in detail, easily accessible
Disadvantages: Ever so slightly Henry dominated

...has to be one of the best biographies I've ever read on Henry VIII's wives. Antonia Fraser takes them out of their conventional stereotypes and re-creates them for a new generation of readers as individual women in their own right. The language is easily accessible to all who care to pick up the book and read it, and is rich is descriptions of the times in which these women lived. The book explores the women's personalities, as well as their relationship ... Read review

Advantages: Well Written, A Great Story of the Life of Marie Antoinette
Disadvantages: Can be Quiet Complex in Places, Gets Confusing with the Politics and Names

...have read many books on Marie Antoinette from her life, her fashion and even fictional interpretations of her, but this book has the facts, gory intimate details and makes sense of the many rumors that surrounded the teenage Queens life from her famous line "Let Them Eat Cake" to her wild love affairs within the French court. This book portrays the true aspects of the lonely life that Marie was subject to at Versailles, coming from Austria into a ...
...read and helped to increase my own knowledge of life and Versailles and the French Queen. This book was a great read, if you are interested in royalty, French history, fashion, politics, The French Revolution the palace of Versailles or Marie Antoinette then this book is a must read. ... Read review

Advantages: Very readable, interesting, informative
Disadvantages: Sometimes lacking in detail, descriptions of executions

Marie Antoinette is a widely known historical personnage - infamous for her callousness towards the starving peasants ("Let them eat cake!") and for having her head chopped off during the French Revolution, a victim of the guillotine, yet few attempts have ever been made to go beyond the stereotypes and actually investigate the character of this celebrity queen. Noted historian Antonia Fraser aims to correct this, and has largely succeeded in a very ...
...reputed sexual insatiability (in truth Marie was quite sexually inexperienced even after marriage and quite pious as well, the allegations deeply upset and shocked her), and of her legendary arrogance, spending inordinate sums of money even as the people of France starved (while she did spend lavishly, even the Royal Family trimmed their expenses in the time of need!) My main criticism is that in its focus of Marie Antoinette alone, the book fails ... Read review

Advantages: Gripping, informative
Disadvantages: May be found quite hard going

Carla Van Raay's autobiography "Gods Callgirl" details the life of a naive, immature girl, then woman who is devoted to God but goes from obedient convent girl to sexual prostitute over the course of her life, but remains as naive as ever. This life story is divided into three parts and develops the tale of this Dutch girl's life over the course of the book. Part one examines the life of a child abused by her father, yet finding she felt abandoned ...
...God from a very young age. As a school girl she idolising the convent and her sole ambition in life is to serve God as a nun in one of Australia's many convents. As an early teenager feeling unloved at home by her family yet supporting her mother in everyday chores and childcare of her brothers and sister she found herself believing she was a product of the devil. A problem no confession could speak of, and no action could heal. Part two follows ... Read review

Advantages: Neil Warnock
Disadvantages: Neil Warnock

There are individuals in sports that only come around so often. People that get everyone talking whether it be how much they admire them or how much they dislike them; Neil Warnock fits this category perfectly. Controversy follows him everywhere, so it is fitting that he should produce an autobiography that i'm sure even those that hate him so much would be just a little intrigued to read. This is the story of one of english domestic football's ...
...humble beginnings in Sheffield through an unglamorous but respectable playing career to a managerial career littered with controversy, success and disappointment. The dream of the Sheffield born man and Blades fan was always to manage his beloved Sheffield United and this dream was realised. He was hated by sections of his own teams support often but his team battled adversity to reach the promised land of the premiership - only to be denied by ... Read review