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The Exchange of Princesses by Chantal Thomas

Cara MacNeil
Aug 12, 2015
4 min read

The Exchange of Princesses by Chantal Thomas (translated by John Cullen) Other Press, 2015 ISBN: 978-1590517024 352 p.p.

One of the perks of being a book reviewer is the early access to some books—The Exchange of Princesses was sent to us on review copy so I was lucky enough to see it before it hits the shelves. This is like a paycheck—the kind of access I always hoped to get. As a sucker for historical fiction I was happy to read Chantal Thomas’ narrative of pre-Revolutionary France. From a gender perspective this particular novel took on a complicated task: not only does Thomas expertly review the business of commodifying women in this time period but she opens up the seldom discussed world of commodifying children.

When we discuss history we often negate the ages of important figures—King Tut inherited at age nine, Mary Queen of Scots was left alone on a throne at age six (thank God for regents!), Anne of Brittany became queen at age eleven (and by all accounts actually rocked it), Charles II of Spain ascended at four (but this was just not good… not good at all), and, one of my favorites, sad little Edward VI who was only nine when he became king and died shortly after. Historically we are taught to see rulers when in fact their bloodlines have blinded us to the fact that they are children who have been placed in extraordinary positions. Aside from Anne of Brittany (who just seems to be a badass), the fact that they are on thrones does not change the fact that they are children—and that they are being exploited by adults for power. Hopefully (though infrequently) the exploitation stops at creating living puppets out of the children—little dolls that do as adults command. Normally there is another layer to the manipulation: marriage and reproduction. Yes, these children get married off at incredibly young ages and while they are allowed to not have sex until they are of age to procreate (how benevolent of their keepers) there is an overt pressure to populate from the earliest possible age.

This uncomfortable aspect of history is brought into brilliant color (almost techno-color) by Chantal Thomas. We meet two families (well, an extended family spread over two countries) that decide to create peace between the warring France and Spain through two political marriages that would further tie together the existing family ties (the kings were cousins already). Thus, a regent sells his child-king (only eleven), a four-year-old bride, while simultaneously ridding himself of an unpleasant twelve-year-old daughter who is set to marry the fifteen-year-old prince of Spain. The story revolves around this trade—we follow the girls while they are at home preparing to leave for their new homelands with their new spouses.

Historical fiction can sometimes gloss over the excruciatingly long time spans that consumed people’s lives with menial things like travel, chores, getting dressed. Days and weeks and months get lost in the space between A and B, and yet giving the details of this time can be boring for a reader if the author doesn’t know how to mitigate the meaningless details with the more engaging. Thomas does a great job making the more mind-numbing details engaging by presenting them through the eyes of her child "characters.” I say “characters” because of how she blends the fictional aspects of the princesses with historical background. They don’t always feel like abstracts that Thomas is playing with, but rather keeps the realism of the figures present in your mind. What does a four-year-old Queen of France obsessed with her baby dolls think about? What makes her laugh? What makes her days meaningful? How do the adults see her? How few of them actually care about her life? If you thought that the narratives of an average twelve-year-old are full of highs and lows, of unpredictable shifts in emotion, just add a crown. If adolescence creates low self esteem in your average boy imagine how he feels when a nation is staring at his pimpled face and flaccid penis. Thomas navigates these uncomfortably taboo topics in a tasteful manner and you don’t feel bad about how fascinating their story is and how awful the buying and selling of children is.

The novel is half fiction and half research. Thomas includes quotes from actual letters that her “characters” sent that have been saved. This was an interesting choice as it certainly creates a noticeable gap between true fiction and true nonfiction—she is clearly attempting to make a plausible account while also embellishing or focusing on what interests her the most. I’m not exactly sure how to categorize it except to say that it did sell me authenticity. I bought that this was how the lives of these children unfolded. I imagined that these were real conversations they had and real thoughts that crossed their minds.

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Chantal Thomas is an international writer and college professor. She has previously written about the final days of Marie Antoinette in the best-selling novel Farewell, My Queen which was adapted into a movie. The Exchange of Princesses is currently being filmed. She has nineteen published works primarily about French historical figures like the Marquis de Sade and Casanova.