Bluebird, or The Invention of Happiness is a radiant and artful novel based on the life of Lucy Dillon, an 18th-century French aristocrat. Her intelligence, beauty, and lack of pretension made Lucy a favorite of luminaries like Talleyrand and Germaine de Staël—and equipped her to survive the "Terror" that swept France in the wake of the Revolution. Possessed of considerable wit and practicality, Lucy manages to keep her beloved husband and small children safe while all her former circle, including King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette, are guillotined. Eventually securing passage on a small ship bound for Boston, Lucy and her family settle in the Hudson Valley near Albany. Exhilarated by the personal and political freedom she finds in America, Lucy views her time there not as "exile," but rather as "opportunity"—and the former palace darling proudly turns dairymaid, establishing a successful farm and embracing all the challenges and adventures the New World presents her. Kohler bases her enchanting seventh novel on the life of Henriette-Lucy Dillon, an aristocratic descendant of Irish Jacobites who becomes one of Marie Antoinette's ladies. Daughter of a general off defending French interests in the West Indies, the beautiful, witty Lucy is raised by her ill-tempered grandmother. Her arranged marriage with Frederic Seraphin, the future marquis de la Tour du Pin, becomes one of her greatest joys. She shows her mettle during the Reign of Terror--a scene where she and Frederic survey the sad ruin of the royal apartments at Versailles is movingly portrayed--by ensuring her family's last-minute escape aboard a creaky ship bound for Boston. A practical woman determined to make the best of everything, Lucy settles into a new career as a dairy farmer on the outskirts of Albany, New York. Kohler's elegant, clearly written prose conjures a heroine whose enthusiasm for life and learning is infectious, and whose disarming manner is immensely appealing. One of the best of the recent crop of French Revolution novels, and certainly the most uplifting. Sarah Johnson Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Publishers Weekly Kohler's writing is often deft....The novel succeeds...in conveying the particulars of Lucy's life, especially her adaptation to the rigors of American country life. Booklist Sarah Johnson Kohler bases her enchanting seventh novel on the life on Henriette-Lucy Dillon, an aristocratic descendant of Irish Jacobites who becomes one of Marie Antoinette’s ladies. Daughter of a general off defending French interests in the West Indies, the beautiful, witty Lucy is raised by her ill-tempered grandmother. Her arranged marriage with Frédéric Séraphin, the future marquis de la Tour du Pin, becomes one of her greatest joys. She shows her mettle during the Reign of Terror—a scene where she and Frédéric survey the sad ruin of the royal apartments at Versailles is movingly portrayed—by ensuring her family’s last-minute escape aboard a creaky ship bound for Boston. A practical woman determined to make the best of everything, Lucy settles into a new career as a dairy farmer on the outskirts of Albany, New York. Kohler’s elegant, clearly written prose conjures a heroine whose enthusiasm for life and learning is infectious, and whose disarming manner is immensely appealing. One of the best of the recent crop of French Revolution novels, and certainly the most uplifting. More Andrea Chapin Sheila Kohler hitches her sensory-rich prose to a really good story. TimeOut New York Written in elegant, spare sentences that recall the language of the period... Bluebird forms that rare, exquisite hybrid: a historical novel where the history lesson works to illuminate the life of the hero instead of the other way around. Much of the book's charm comes from Kohler's sensitivity to the danger of allowing the political tectonics to overwhelm the marquise's triumphant narrative. Throughout, it unwaveringly remains Lucy Dillon’s story. Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Carol Deptolla "Kohler, a South African writer living in New York, puts flesh on the bones of this engrossing story - known from the memoir the Marquise de la Tour du Pin wrote at age 50 - and brings it to life. Her vivid writing lets the reader see the pageantry and folly of the royal court, hear the tumult of the revolution, feel the dark prison of the closet in which Lucy's grandmother sometimes locks the child...'Bluebird' is a gripping fictionalized account of a young 18th-century woman who was resourceful and daring not just for that age but for all ages." New York Sun Carol Iannone [ Bluebird ] focuses our attention on issues of freedom and self-government that are apropos today, and it hints at reasons for the deep-rooted differences between America and Europe that we still face. Shelf Awareness Amanda Thoms This is a touching and inspirational novel based on the true