Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran

There are probably readers who disagree with me but I really enjoy Moran’s books. She has a wonderful style of writing and manages to relate a lot of history without sounding like my college professors. I had a lot of trouble putting this book down. If not for the demands of a one year old I would have been glued to the couch unable to close it. Moran’s stories have kept me entertained cover to cover and this one was no exception. 

I would recommend this book to friends but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a few criticisms. To begin with, this novel should be titled Mademoiselle Grosholtz. The story begins in 1788 and takes us up to 1795, the year Marie married Tussaud. The remaining 55 years of Marie’s life are wrapped up like an after thought which disappointed me because I find her life in England very interesting even compared to her time in France. The book is a wonderful story of the French Revolution. I just don’t think it is a particularly good novel of Marie. I greatly enjoyed Moran’s story, I rated it four stars, but I do feel the title is a bit misleading. For the record I am aware that the full title is Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution. My point is that the two don’t mesh well. Madame Tussaud is an entity completely separate from the war and it comes off as a cheap attempt to sell copies. Unlike a lot of books, this one shouldn’t need to resort to such marketing tactics. It is a great book in its own right. 

I am beginning to see a pattern in novels featuring Marie. Very few authors bother to do much research on the art for which she is known. Either that or they do the research and opt to omit much of it from the final draft. Some books have more content than others but all agree that she was extortionately passionate about her craft. Why no author has written a scene where Marie is actually molding the wax, painting the figures or creating the tableaux is beyond my comprehension. I want to read what goes through her mind while a face is forming beneath her fingers, I want to recognize the effort that goes into a completed figure and really understand the pride she felt when one of her figures finally went on display. Her thoughts are overwhelmingly consumed by her business and I feel she might be a more understandable character if an author would explore her art and the enthusiasm she had for it in detail. As it is she comes off as detached from both wax modeling and the events taking place around her. Her only concerns are for the money generated by her business which undermines any attempt to give her depth resulting in a one-dimensional protagonist who falls flat in a richly colorful setting. 

Finally, I understand that Marie had a more personal view of the royal family than most but why does she feel no sympathy for her peers until they are being killed? She grew up with these people. Perhaps I think too much about it but I would feel more conflicted in her situation. On the same note I would think that the disparity between social classes would have made Marie more sympathetic to men like Marat and Robespierre, at least until their ideas took on a life of their own and led Paris into utter chaos. 

Minor complaints aside, this is a solid read. A fantastic novel of the French Revolution. Moran has expertly executed a well-crafted story. Highly recommended to any lover of historic fiction.