Fans of historical fiction will enjoy the numerous details about Louis, Marie Antoinette and Versailles that are neatly woven into the story and will be further be drawn into Isabelle's adventure as she flees the palace as it is attacked by angry peasants, thus ushering in the French Revolution. The queen invites her to spend the day with her daughter Marie-Therese, whose regular playmate is unavailable. As Isabelle becomes more involved with palace life, George forces her to see the growing unrest caused by the king and queen's lavish spending and scant regard for the peasants. When eleven-year-old Isabelle Bonnard, a lacemaker like her mother and grandmother, delivers lace to the palace at Versailles, she has a chance encounter with Marie Antoinette. In the morning she helps her mother and grand-mère make lace in the afternoon she lives a fairy-tale life. She is introduced to Princess Thérèse, who desires Isabelle to be her playmate, thus beginning a somewhat odd friendship and Isabelle's dual life.

One day, Isabelle delivers a piece of lace intended for the Princess of Lamballe and literally runs into Queen Marie Antoinette. Eleven-year-old Isabelle lives with her mother and grand-mère in poverty, eking out a meager living by making lace her older brother, George, supplies a few coins from his job as a palace stable hand.

Before Isabelle can believe it, she has a new job - companion to the queens daughter. One day as she delivers lace to the palace, she is almost trampled by a crowd of courtiers - only to be rescued by Marie Antoinette. ) gives readers a glimpse of the overwhelming poverty the French people suffered before the French Revolution and juxtaposes it with the luxuries enjoyed by their royals. ELEVEN-YEAR-OLD ISABELLE IS A LACEMAKER IN THE TOWN OF VERSAILLES. The Lacemaker and the Princess Kimberly Brubaker Bradley Fiction Ages 12 and up.

The princess and the lacemaker