Witty Little Knitter

Born in the very heart of the dangers of the English Civil War, smuggled out of the clutches of Parliament as a toddler and then raised in near penury in exile in France, the charming and beautiful Princess Henrietta-Anne Stuart, youngest daughter of Charles I and Henrietta Maria is the original Cinderella, waiting breathlessly and with some trepidation for the moment when her family’s fortunes will be restored and she can reclaim her proper place in the world.

A treat for all fans of The Secret Diary of a Princess by the same author, Minette leads the reader into the flamboyant, exciting and treacherous world of Louis XIV's Paris and Charles II's raucous Restoration court as seen through the eyes of an enchanting and unforgettable heroine.

I simply think that I'd be more interested in reading a really biography about Minette than a fictionalized version of her life. These things can work but this book covers her life between the age of 11 and 17 and that results in two problems:

1) It's also a First Person POV and her voice doesn't sound like a eleven year old at all. I still hugely preferred that over the author trying to imitate a first person-narration of a young child (which honestly would have been annoying to me no matter if she managed to get it right or failed at it) but I still did a double-take the first time I read how old she was because what? Eleven? Seriously?

2) Nothing much happened to Minette during that time. OK that is perhaps the wrong thing to say. She still had a much more exiting life than any eleven year olds who aren't the daughters of an executed king and who life in exile but she still can't do much. Because she is so young (and because her mother is...a complicated character). So this book is her going to balls, her reacting to news about what her siblings are doing, more balls and some romance. Now I don't mind any of these things but I generally prefer less balls and more of the other.

Minette simply had almost no own agency which is logical and understandable considering the circumstances but for me that was still rather frustrating to read.

A second book about the rest of Minette's life is planned and since I like the author and from what I read Minette's life will become really interesting then* I will probably still read it.

*it's not even that the six years described in this book were boring. Just, as said, a biography might have been better since it could have put all the events in a bigger context.