A very worthy endeavor but unfortunately I wasn't able to finish it.

As a Frenchman I was very excited to learn more about a very disturbing episode in early 18th century French history.

But the writing was so dry and dry and boring...

The author didn't show any empathy towards her readers!

She lost me once those poor women were on the accursed boat.....


Many thanks to Netgalley and Basic Books for this ARC but I really didn't like it.

I had never heard of this batch of women before. I always like to read about previously overlooked groups in history. I like it when nuggets of information are flushed out of history and revealed.
I thought the subject was fascinating and the scholarship was good. The writing was a bit dry and my attention drifted often while reading the book.