island queens mission wives
Book Reviews

Book Review: Island Queens and Mission Wives: How Gender and Empire Remade Hawai‘i’s Pacific World by Jennifer Thigpen

*review copy* *contains affiliate links* Island Queens and Mission Wives: How Gender and Empire Remade Hawai’i’s Pacific World is a book that focuses on the relationship between Hawaiian royalty and the mission wives who arrived in Hawaii to bring Christianity. The Hawaiian queens are immensely fascinating, and this book had the opportunity to be so [read more]

cleopatra's daughter selene jane draycott
Book Reviews

Book Review: Cleopatra’s Daughter: Egyptian Princess, Roman Prisoner, African Queen by Jane Draycott

*contains affiliate links* *review copy* Cleopatra Selene is the forgotten daughter of the infamous Cleopatra VII. She was an Egyptian princess who was proclaimed by Marc Antony as Queen of Cyrenaica and Libya. After the death of her mother, she reigned as Queen of Egypt with her brother, Alexander Helios, for two weeks before it [read more]

jeanne du barry
Reviews

Review: Jeanne du Barry (2023)

Jeanne du Barry is a brand-new film about Madame du Barry, the last maîtresse-en-titre of King Louis XV of France, starring Maïwenn as Madame du Barry and Johnny Depp as King Louis XV. Jeanne du Barry begins chronologically and swiftly walks the viewer through a simplified version of her early life as the illegitimate daughter of [read more]

napoleon
Reviews

Review: Napoleon (2023)

From Ridley Scott comes the 2023 biopic Napoleon, starring Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon Bonaparte and Vanessa Kirby as Joséphine de Beauharnais. Napoleon rose to become Emperor of the French with Joséphine by his side, although he would later divorce her to marry the Austrian Archduchess Marie Louise to father an heir. The film begins with [read more]

sisi and I film poster
Elisabeth in Bavaria

Review: Sisi & I

Sisi & I (original title Sisi & Ich) is a German-language historical black comedy starring Susanne Wolff as Empress Elisabeth of Austria and Sandra Hüller as Countess Irma Sztáray. Although Irma really did serve as Elizabeth’s lady-in-waiting, the film is largely fiction. It begins as the 42-year-old spinster Irma is presented in a bright pink [read more]