Michiel B.L. Korte
Award Winning Author
New Release
Ernestine
(2022)
Ernestine Lambriquet, born to servants at the palace of Versailles, gets the chance of a lifetime when Marie Antoinette adopts her into the royal family. Ernestine serves as a playmate and an adoptive sister to the King and Queen’s daughter, Madame Royale, and lives a life of luxury until the French Revolution threatens everything Ernestine has gained. She joins the royal family in imprisonment. Will she ever gain back the life she had or will she lose her head?
Reviews for Ernestine
Korte does an excellent job of writing about the details of the royal family’s life at their residences of 18th-century Versailles, Trianon, and, later, the Tuileries in Paris. You feel you are living there with Ernestine, even though, unlike her, you know their world is about to collapse. Marie-Antoinette is portrayed as a loving mother to her children: Charlotte, the frail Dauphin Louis-Joseph, and the playful Louis-Charles. What really stands out is the friendship between Ernestine and Charlotte. The two girls are devoted to each other, even though Ernestine knows she is not royal and can be dismissed at any time. Korte also describes the violence of the Terror, and the fear the royal family felt as the mob stormed the Tuileries, very well.
Historical Novel Society
Due to the fact that Ernestine was not a royal heir in the legal sense, our history has forgotten her and her loyalty towards the royal family and how she did not leave their side til the end despite having the chance to do so and lead a peaceful life.
In this book, we are also shown the ruckus that occurred during the French revolution and how people died like a house of cards.
This book also depicts what kind of atrocities had to be witnessed by Ernestine after having her entire family killed and how she had to return to humble beginnings once again.
While reading this book,it is hard to fathom that the author is just a 19 year old kid and this is his debut novel.
The maturity and depth which is evident in this book makes me excited for its publication as this book gives you major Jane Austen vibes.
Dakshita Matta
Korte’s novel Ernestine is a superbly rendered portrait of life at Versailles as told through the innocent yet clever eyes of a young servant. Reading the book, I felt as if I had journeyed through a time machine, getting to experience first-hand the clandestine daily life at a long-gone French court that was full of both privilege and hardship. Despite facing the many challenges of being a young lady in a time that was difficult for women, Ernestine transforms into a strong heroine with thoughts and plans of her own, worthy of a modern appreciation. This untold story of Ernestine is both emotional and compelling, leaving the reader wanting more.
5 Stars.
Shanee Edwards, Author of "Ada Lovelace: the Countess who Dreamed in Numbers"
About Michiel B.L. Korte
Born in The Hague in 2002, Korte is a student of English Language and Culture at Leiden University. He has a deep interest in history and royalty, which has contributed to inspiring him to write the historical aspect of this book. Having been a child actor in the past spiked his interest in storytelling, which came in handy for the fictional part.
Michiel hopes that readers worldwide will come to know and love Ernestine and her story as much as he does...