I have read biographies and journals, memoirs and encyclopedias. If it is remotely connected to the Queen, I have read it. Some books describe her as shallow and spoiled, selfish and stupid. Other books describe her as giving and caring, earnest and misguided. The most reliable sources, I believe, are the letters Marie Antoinette wrote to her Mother, Empress Maria Therese of Austria.
Letters written by a person are the clearest window into their soul.
They are also candid and heart wrenching. I can hear her tear-filled voice as she shares her feelings of homesickness during her first months in France. I can hear her voice, soft and wavering, as she shares the pain of childlessness and her desires to become a mother. Later, I can hear the voice of an older, tired and wizened, woman as she describes her disgust with court politics. Throughout her letters there is a feeling of isolation and loneliness.