ABUNDANCE, by Sena Jeter Naslund

(originally posted on September 4, 2006)

Thinking of going to see that Sofia Coppola movie about the notorious queen? You're much better off spending the money on Naslund's sumptuous, wonderfully layered depiction of how a young woman from Austria marries above station and gets caught up in her own whims and desires but despite calamity and revolution, never fully loses her sense of self. Historical novels should always teach the reader something new, and ABUNDANCE does so in spades.