Real People/Real Stories: The Queen’s Necklace

Real People/Real Stories meets the third Thursday of each month to explore the best in nonfiction history, biography, science, nature, and the arts.

Join us as we discuss The Queen’s Necklace by Antal Szerb.

In 1785 France, an impoverished aristocratic woman concocts a scheme to gain possession of “the most expensive diamond necklace ever assembled” by impersonating Marie Antoinette. The resulting scandal destroys all those involved and becomes a prelude to the French Revolution.

“A sparkling slice of 18th century life.” – Paul Bailey

“An 18th-century scam involving Marie Antoinette, an ambitious jeweller, a charlatan doctor and a countess on the make is the subject of this engaging book. Antal Szerb was a Hungarian novelist who wrote what he called this ‘real history’ in 1942 and died in a labour camp in 1945. Knowing his fate lends poignancy to his witty, learned and illuminating portrayal of the ancien regime on the brink of the Revolution.” – Katie Owen, Telegraph’s Pick of the Paperbacks