How to Ruin a Queen: Marie Antoinette and the Diamond Necklace Affair - Hardcover

"A lively, engaging narrative...A dramatic tale of intrigue and suspense...Beckman's poetic imagery infuses historical detail with verve and depth, bringing new life to one of the most dramatic episodes in French history." --The Historian

Praise for How to Ruin a Queen

"A murky story of the Ancien Regime including diamonds and sex, brilliantly told."--Antonia Fraser, author of the bestselling Marie Antoinette

"How to Ruin a Queen is a fascinating and impeccably-researched account of one of the great scandals of the 18th century. Jonathan Beckman is a master storyteller whose consummate skills are evident on every page."--Amanda Foreman, author of the bestselling Georgiana

"The narrative is like an ingenious chess game, a work of scholarship and imagination.... Jonathan Beckman is the new Wilkie Collins of biographical history."--Michael Holroyd, award-winning biographer and former president of the Royal Society of Literature

"With its exuberant use of language and subtly ironic storytelling, it is almost as colorful as the scandal it unfolds."--Sunday Times

"Jonathan Beckman skillfully unfolds the intricacies and absurdities of this extraordinary episode...[and] provides us with an engaging and finely-researched study of an affair that, despite having the plot of a frothy operetta, was of genuine historical significance."--Literary Review

"A hell of a tale and Jonathan Beckman gives it all the verve and swagger it deserves."--Spectator

Jonathan Beckman is senior editor of Literary Review. He has degrees from the University of Cambridge and University of London. His writing has appeared in numerous publications, including The Observer, Times Literary Supplement, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Financial Times, Sunday Times, Spectator, New Statesman, and Independent. In 2010, he won the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Award for Non-Fiction. He lives in London.