I was attracted to this book by the beautiful cover, the fact that it's set in Paris just before the Revolution, and because it features Marie Antoinette as one of the characters!
Camille's mother grew up at the Palace of Versailles but her father was a printer who went bankrupt after being discovered publishing revolutionary pamphlets. Now both her parents are dead. Camille and her younger sister Sophie are in danger of starving and their elder brother is in debt to a powerful aristocrat, gambling away the few possessions they have. In desperation, Camille uses magic to turn bent nails and old shoe buckles into gold coins. But this petty magic only lasts a few hours. Is she desperate enough to use dark magic - the kind that demands payment in blood and sorrow?
I really enjoyed this story. It reminded me a lot of Cinderella! Camille has inherited a magical court dress that she transforms into the latest fashion every time she visits Versailles to gamble back her family's fortunes, and sometimes the dress starts to transform back into rags before morning! Being a YA book, there is a lot about Camille's friendships with the popular rich kids (this might put off older readers who would prefer more historical detail and drama to the story) and there's also a sweet romance with a young balloonist. The details about Versailles and the first balloon flights seemed well-researched and were fascinating. I think the only negative for me was the main characters' naivety about the Revolution being a good thing - considering the Terror that was to come a few years later, where thousands of innocent people lost their lives.
But Enchantée is a lovely bit of escapism and I'm happy to give it five stars.
Thank you to Gita Trelease and Macmillan Children's Books for my copy of this book, which I requested from NetGalley and reviewed voluntarily.
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