QUEEN MARGOT

The Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre and the marriage of Marguerite de Valois of France (a Catholic) to King Henri de Navarre (a Protestant) provide the historical context for this delightful novel. Dumas's work actually is about Henri, showing how events unfolded to place him in a position to ascend to the throne of France as Henri IV. Life at the French Court during the Reformation is brought to life by Dumas as he presents a drama that involves affairs of the heart, deceptions, murder and sorcery. Whitfield's performance in no small way makes this recording a delight. His voice is extremely versatile as shown by his ability to give all the main players in this drama distinct accents that are rendered consistently. These accents bring out the character of each person, with Catherine de Medici an especially evil and manipulative shrew. One hopes that if Dumas wrote a sequel to QUEEN MARGOT that Blackstone and Whitfiled will record it. M.T.F. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 00]