Diana Giovinazzo’s ANTOINETTE’S SISTER has a tough task ahead of it. The novel’s very title casts its heroine, Maria Carolina, in the shadow of her infamous sister, Marie Antoinette. The context of the book places “Charlotte,” as she was known, as the heiress apparent to her dominating mother, Empress Maria Theresa. Giovinazzo creates a compelling character in Charlotte; she thrives when portraying the intimate relationships of her friends and family, but flags when she gets to the actual history of the period.

The story opens on the chaotic but cheerful imperial family of Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and his political powerhouse of a wife, Maria Theresa. Stern but affectionate, she presides over a massive brood of sons and daughters, inculcating in them the need to sacrifice themselves for their family and country. That meant marrying as their mother dictated, no matter if the spouse in question was unattractive, unstable, a relative or all three.

"It's in the personal relationships that this story really thrives. Charlotte is a compelling character, and ANTOINETTE’S SISTER proves she is worthy to break out of her sister’s shadow."

Willful Charlotte protests against her mother’s iron-fisted rule, sharing her exasperations with her beloved sister, Maria Antonia (here called Antoinette). The sisters are soon split up for their individual destinies --- Charlotte heads to Naples to wed the childlike King Ferdinand, while Antoinette is, of course, destined for the Dauphin, the future King Louis XVI. As the years pass, Charlotte grows into a formidable woman with political savvy, while juvenile Antoinette doesn’t quite live up to her potential. Giovinazzo includes a scattering of letters, some presumably fictional, to Charlotte, although none from Charlotte to her loved ones, which means we miss out on details a bit.

Giovinazzo memorably brings to life Charlotte’s interpersonal relationships. Her annoyance-turned-love bond with her mother; her resentment of, and irritation with, her husband; her close allyship with her second brother, Leopold; her closeness with her BFF Emma, Lady Hamilton; her affection for her children; and the enduring love she and Antoinette bore one another spring off the page fully formed. Charlotte is a well-drawn character who is as fleshed out as a historical figure can be, flaws and all.

Where ANTOINETTE’S SISTER falls short is in some of its historical detail. While Giovinazzo does a good job of keeping so many details straight --- there are innumerable Maria Theresas, Francises and Carloses in the family --- a student of history will be taken aback by incorrect but important details that jerk the reader out of the story. For one, Charlotte is called “Maria Carolina Charlotte” throughout and in the jacket copy, as if those were her three names. In reality, Charlotte was just a nickname, and the inaccuracy is glaring.

Moreover, the beautiful Maria Elisabeth is said to be Maria Theresa’s favorite child. But it is well-documented that Maria Christina, aka Mimi, always occupied that role. And while Mimi is portrayed as a spoiled brat, the real archduchess by that name was actually a rather generous soul, as memorably portrayed in Nancy Goldstone’s recent biography of the family.

Giovinazzo also mixes up the two wives of Maria Theresa’s eldest son, Joseph, and portrays Charlotte as a sort of 19th-century anti-vaxxer who harps on and on about how her sister died of inoculation, to the detriment of her children. It is understandable to want to allude to the COVID-19 crisis in a book written during that time. But this is out of character for Charlotte, who actually was pro-inoculation while her mother wavered at times, as historian Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger notes in a new biography of Maria Theresa.

It's in the personal relationships that this story really thrives. Charlotte is a compelling character, and ANTOINETTE’S SISTER proves she is worthy to break out of her sister’s shadow.