The Betrayal of the Duchess: The Scandal That Unmade the Bourbon Monarchy and Made France Modern
Maurice Samuels
Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: Basic Books (April 14, 2020)
ISBN-13: 9781541645455

The dramatic tale of the Duchesse de Berry's quest to retake the French throne for the Bourbons -- and her betrayal at the hands of one of her closest advisors

In July 1830, the French royal family went into exile. From a drafty Scottish castle, the Duchesse de Berry hatched a plot to restore the dynasty and, after two years of careful planning, she set out to reclaim the throne for her son. For months, she commanded a guerilla army and evaded capture by disguising herself as a man. But she was soon sold out by her most trusted advisor, a convert from Judaism named Simon Deutz. France's response to the betrayal was intense, the duchess's plight became a cause célèbre for Bourbon loyalists, and the affair became a blueprint for anti-Semitic stereotypes and rhetoric.

Brimming with intrigue and lush detail, The Betrayal of the Duchess is the riveting story of a high-spirited woman and the charming but volatile young man who double-crossed her.

About the Author

Maurice Samuels is the Betty Jane Anlyan professor of French at Yale University, chair of the orogram in Judaic studies, and founder and director of the Yale Program for the Study of Antisemitism. He is the author of three books, including The Spectacular Past, which won the Gaddis Smith International Book Prize, and Inventing the Israelite, which received the MLA's Scaglione Prize. Prior to teaching at Yale, he was a professor at the University of Pennsylvania after completing his PhD at Harvard. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2015. He lives in New York and New Haven, Connecticut.