Dusting history. For Chantal Thomas, it is a lively and vibrant material that it respects, certainly, but to which it gives a steady pace, execution speed that clashes with everything from historical novels. Admittedly, it is sometimes disconcerting Exchange princesses especially as the book quotes on many occasions period documents and letters which we dive back in the eighteenth century where events found a more consistent look to the period, all in slow and languid. The exchange of princesses is a modern look at a pretty amazing historical episode and we must accept this time lag, somehow anachronistic, to taste the quality of the work, which does not miss the point. Chantal Thomas excels in portraits, those of the two princesses, first, thrown as food to children during Spain and France, the geopolitical toys what is more inbred. Fear and terror before the fate of these poor little girls that are expected to behave as responsible adults and worthy of their charges. But it will make its honey also "supporting roles" pulling the strings, or are themselves prisoners of a destiny written against their will: the Regent Philippe d'Orleans; the young Louis XV; The Princess Palatine (one of the few sympathetic figures); Louis 1, ephemeral king of Spain; Elizabeth Farnese, the icy queen consort ... Chantal Thomas moves from a princess to another, seamlessly and without falter. This is not the case of the player who has to adapt to this vivacity. Once the thing done, the fact that more appreciate this singular novel that mixes historical fact with virtuosity and intimate fiction.
