Queen of Exiles
A Novel
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4.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
“You may not know Marie-Louise Christophe but once you have met her, you won’t forget her. Vanessa Riley’s historical novel feels timely and relevant, commemorating a time when Black women were queens.” —Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author
Acclaimed historical novelist Vanessa Riley is back with another novel based on the life of an extraordinary Black woman from history: Haiti’s Queen Marie-Louise Christophe, who escaped a coup in Haiti to set up her own royal court in Italy during the Regency era, where she became a popular member of royal European society.
The Queen of Exiles is Marie-Louise Christophe, wife and then widow of Henry I, who ruled over the newly liberated Kingdom of Hayti in the wake of the brutal Haitian Revolution.
In 1810 Louise is crowned queen as her husband begins his reign over the first and only free Black nation in the Western Hemisphere. But despite their newfound freedom, Haitians still struggle under mountains of debt to France and indifference from former allies in Britain and the new United States. Louise desperately tries to steer the country’s political course as King Henry descends into a mire of mental illness.
In 1820, King Henry is overthrown and dies by his own hand. Louise and her daughters manage to flee to Europe with their smuggled jewels. In exile, the resilient Louise redefines her role, recovering the fortune that Henry had lost and establishing herself as an equal to the kings of European nations. With newspapers and gossip tracking their every movement, Louise and her daughters tour Europe like other royals, complete with glittering balls and princes with marriage proposals. As they find their footing—and acceptance—they discover more about themselves, their Blackness, and the opportunities they can grasp in a European and male-dominated world.
Queen of Exiles is the tale of a remarkable Black woman of history—a canny and bold survivor who chooses the fire and ideals of political struggle, and then is forced to rebuild her life on her own terms, forever a queen.
"A sweeping look at the political, social, and romantic intrigue surrounding Haiti’s first and only queen. Riley’s depiction is richly imagined and wholly original." — Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Magnolia Palace
"Queen of Exiles is the riveting account of Marie-Louise Christophe, Haiti's first and only Queen. Bold, ambitious, historically sound and beautifully told."--Sadeqa Johnson, New York Times bestselling author of The House of Eve
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The uneven latest from Riley (Island Queen) follows Queen Marie-Louise Christophe from early 1800s Haiti and the opulent, often ostentatious rule of her husband, King Henry Christophe, to a life of exile in Europe. After fleeing the island with her daughters and a few loyal attendants in the wake of the king's death and a subsequent uprising, Marie-Louise finds her footing as a powerful Black woman touring new lands: "Whether exiled or on the throne, I am a queen." Though the undertow of sorrow at all she's lost is always churning, she never succumbs to its grasp. Instead, she draws strength from her memories of the beauty of the Haitian people and the complicated love of her troubled husband, a veteran of the Haitian revolution traumatized by enslavement and war. Marie-Louise eventually settles in Italy, where she is driven to achieve the status and recognition that Henry so desperately craved. The nonlinear time jumps can be confusing, and there's a bit too much anachronistic language ("It was me and my man, against the world"), though Riley's extensive research and textured approach, which incorporates copies of real newspaper clippings from Europe before and after Marie-Louise's exile, plainly show how Haiti and its people of color were repeatedly undermined by imperial powers. Despite some bumps along the way, Riley does justice to a queen and her people.
