This week my "for fun" reading is ABUNDANCE, a historical novel of Marie Antoinette, by Sara Jeter Naslund. This isn't a historical romance by any means, but it's so rich in character and detail that I haven't been able to put it down. Poor Marie Antoinette! The author skillfully lets us feel sympathy for her, while simultaneously showing us that she had absolutely no idea how her actions, which she saw as completely innocent, were perceived by the French people.

A while back I wrote about different settings in historical romance, where 19th century England still reigns supreme. I am not one of those who believes the historical romance is dead (every time someone asks me about that at a conference I burst into laughter), but historical novels seem all over the place--France, Tudor England, Italy. Is it our fascination with real historical characters that carry the day? I wonder.