Discussion Questions
1. In Mistress of the Revolution, Gabrielle often makes difficult choices (when she becomes Villiers's mistress, when she accepts the position of lady-in-waiting, when she goes to work at the Theatre.) In her place, would you have chosen other options?
2. Gabrielle is, for all intents and purposes, abandoned at birth by her mother. How does she cope with it?
3. Do you think Gabrielle is a good mother? How does her relationship with her daughter evolve throughout the book?
4. Do you see Gabrielle's brother, the Marquis de Montserrat, as a villain, or do you feel some sympathy for him?
5. Is Gabrielle passive? Does she accept the limits imposed on women of her class and time, or does she strive to forge her own path?
6. When Gabrielle arrives in Paris as a widow at the age of seventeen, she is not reunited with her former love. Why not?
7. Is the portrait of Queen Marie-Antoinette in Mistress of the Revolution different from what you read in other books or saw in films?
8. How are the stark realities of the Terror foreshadowed in the luxurious lifestyle of the aristocracy before the Revolution?
9. How does Gabrielle's attitude towards religion in general, and her own faith, evolve throughout the novel?
10. Mistress of the Revolution begins as a memoir. How, and why does the tone and purpose of Gabrielle's narrative evolve?
11. Did Mistress of the Revolution change your image of the French Revolution? If yes, how so?
12. Did the conclusion of the novel surprise you? Is it a "happy ending"?
(Questions from the author's website.)
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