The Frenchwoman

Timed for the French Revolution's bicentennial, Mackin's romantic first novel spans 1774 to 1836, tracing the journey of Julienne Forge from Paris to Pennsylvania. Born among prostitutes, Julie becomes a skilled seamstress who, after some traumatic events, finds work with a prestigious couturiereper Web. where she sews for Marie Antoinette. The queen obtains a salon for Julie, also entrusting a fateful diamond to her care. The corrupt Duc d'Orleans wants Julie to spy on the queen, demands the diamond, then denounces her as a whore when she refuses. when she refuses (?) After her aristocratic husband is beheaded by a mob, Julie sails to America, joining the emigre colony of Azilum, aok? commune which kept quarters ready for the royal family. There Julie must make a decision about the compromising gem. The perils of Julie have the flavor of a decorous 18th-century novel, where long-suffering virtue finds its reward in marriage and fruitful domesticity. (Dec.)