Madame Tussauds is one of my favorite attractions in London but I'd never really given much thought to the person behind the brand, the other locations in the world, so I jumped on this book.

This is a really good insight into the woman herself. I didnt realise how far back this story dates, right back to the seventeenth century. It does go off on tangents however a lot of the tangents I enjoyed, the one on the guillotine and beheadings was probably my favoriate (I'm sick in the head clearly), I felt I learnt alot on that.

Next time I'm in a city with a Tussauds I will revisit this attraction, I feel it would be a whole new experience after reading this book.

I have been interested in Madame Tussaud ever since I visited her wax museum. However, this novel was very hard for me to get through. The novel is written in a dry style. However, what was the main problem for me is that there is not enough focus on Madame Tussaud but on the events happening during the time. This may be because there is not a lot of information on her. Still, I recommend this for those interested in the French Revolution.

This is an interesting biography, which also gives some context in relation to Madame Tussaud's life (such as the French Revolution). It's worth mentioning that one can get the feel that the book focues more on her work with wax, but as it is mentioned in the book several times, Madame Tussaud was an enigmatic woman and the book illustrates that.

I've been had! When the title of the book is Madame Tussaud: Her Life and Legacy, it seems that the reader could expect the book to be a biography about the person in the title. Not so, fellow reader!

Though obviously well-researched and documented, this book is more about the French revolution than about the Tussaud (approximately an 85%/15% split). As a person who has been to her museums and seen her works, I was more than curious about her.

If I wanted to read a history about the French revolution, I would have chosen one. Count me very disappointed.

My thanks to NetGalley and Pen and Sword History for allowing me to read an ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions expressed here are my own.

A very informative read highly focusing on key events prior to and during the French Revolution. Detailing the lives of prominent people of that period such as Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, rather than focusing on Madame Tussaud personally. I enjoyed the latter part of the book better as the focus shifted more to the women and her legacy at this point. Overall it was an incredibly well-researched book and I would definitely recommend it to anyone wishing to gain more background information about the life and times of Madam Tussaud.

Madame Tussaud was such a fascinating person and her wax figures still live on today. Geri Walton really did a thorough research and The book is well written.

Madame Tussaud Wax Museums can be found in locations worldwide, wax figures that "so exactly imitate life." What were the life and times of Anne-Marie Tussaud nee Grosholtz? How did Marie, raised by a single mother, become a "highly accomplished" wax sculptress? It started when Marie's mother accepted the job of housekeeper to Dr. Phillipe Curtius. Curtius, Marie's "uncle", taught her the art of wax modeling. Marie developed such skill that "it was practically impossible to tell her waxwork creations from those of Curtius".

Marie Tussaud dictated her "Memoirs" to a writer forty years after her experiences. "She was a storyteller at heart....She may have also exaggerated some details of her experiences to promote her show or improve her reputation". Madame Tussaud's mentor Curtius, wanted to develop relationships with the French Elite, model them in wax, and display the chosen ones in one of his two wax museums. In the late 1700's, wax creations were popular in Paris. King Louis XVI's youngest sister, Elizabeth was tutored in wax modeling by Marie Grosholtz at the Palace of Versailles.

Marie learned about staging a scene and creating authenticity by dressing wax figures in an exact replica of their model's clothing. "The Grand Couvert", a nightly dining ritual at the Palace of Versailles allowed commoners to watch King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette dine as "a form of public entertainment...Louis-with his untidy, haphazard appearance-dined next to a Marie Antoinette bedecked in feathers and jewels." "The Grand Couvert" was duplicated in Curtius' waxworks museum.

Marie claimed to be present when Curtius entertained "illustrious guests" in his home including Voltaire, Rousseau and Robespierre. Marie's first wax head was that of Voltaire created when she was 15 or 16 years old. Marie and Curtius were swept up in the French Revolution, being forced to mold and make death masks of guillotined royals and revolutionaries, the best and worst characters during the Reign of Terror. Upon Curtius' death, Marie, his sole heir, toured the British Isles exhibiting Curtius' waxworks before settling in England and "stamping her brand", her vision for future endeavors in wax creations.

"Madame Tussaud: Her Life and Legacy" by Geri Walton is a well documented history of the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror. Marie's upbringing arguably allowed her to hobnob with royalty but also attend the lively discussions in her "uncle's" residence that included exchanges of ideas between Voltaire, Rousseau, Robespierre and other great thinkers of the time. Madame Tussaud's anecdotes and storytelling are put into perspective by author Walton's careful attention to detail. Walton provides an impressive bibliography as well as photos of many wax figures. "...the human details and their lifelike expressions were unnerving. When you looked at them, they looked back" Kudos to Geri Walton for an excellent, challenging read.

Thank you Pen and Sword History and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "Madame Tussaud".

Madame Marie Tussaud is known worldwide for the chain of wax museums she started over 200 hundred years ago. Less known is that her original wax models were often of the famous and infamous people she personally knew during and after the French Revolution. These were people like Voltaire, Robespierre, and Napoleon — people who changed the world.

This book shows how the traumatic and cataclysmic experiences of Madame Tussaud’s early life became part of her legacy. She created a succession of scenes in wax, telling events as she personally experienced them. Her wax sculptures were visceral. She made them herself, at times from the living person’s head and at other times from the recently guillotined head of a former house guest. Madame Tussaud’s story is told through a series of unique and informative stories drawn from an in-depth study of both Madame Tussaud’s life and the dramatic times in which she lived.

I've been to a few of Madame Tussaud’s wax museums, one in Las Vegas and the other Washington DC, and just loved them! This book was really interesting to me because of the background it gives you on her life and how she started making wax figures. It was well written and would be great for any fan of history and Madame Tussaud.

Thank you #NetGalley for the ARC of #MadameTussaud
Pub Date: 30 Apr 2019

This was a deep and compelling memoir of the woman behind the famous wax empire that has since spread worldwide. From the time of her childhood in France studying with Dr. Curtius, to living through the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror, to her life and death in Victorian England. Ms. Walton has carefully crafted together the timeline of Madame Tussaud’s life and work from numerous books and articles written about the enigmatic woman.
It was a hard read for me, a fan of history, because it delved more into the French Revolution, it’s causes and reactions than I would have liked. It seemed that during that time the book was written about the Revolution and not about the woman herself. There was, interwoven in, stories about Madame Tussaud, but it was more about the lives and deaths of those the Revolution made famous, such as Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI, and Robespierre than it was about Madame Tussaud. Once I was through with that part of the book and moved on to Madame Tussaud’s time in Scotland, Ireland, and England the story moved quickly and I was enthralled.
I received this ARC via NetGalley and this is my honest review.

First and foremost I’m going to say that this book is well written and researched.
Now that I’ve said that I’m going to say that this was a huge bait and switch. This book is really not about Madame Tussaud. It’s more like “The French Revolution and the life and legacy of the people she copied into wax” . It’s great if you’ve never read about the French Revolution and it’s key players. But that’s not the case, I’ve already read about those people extensively, that’s not who I want to know about. When you pick up a book specifically about Madame Tussaud and it only has, at most, 30 pages, about her, you feel duped. Even after the French Revolution part, which took up most of the book, the stories were mostly about the people she copied into wax. Any actual facts about Madame Tussaud and her museum felt rushed and then it ends abruptly. There’s so much more that could have been added. Maybe something about the fire in the 1920’s...what happened after...maybe something about the current state of the wax museums, their popularity...or what her ancestors are now doing. My point is...Anything. It was a disappointment, based on the title. You should change it or ACTUALLY write about Madame Tussaud’s life and legacy.

It is well known there are huge gaps in our knowledge of Madame Tussaud's life, not least because we cannot completely trust the veracity of her personal memoirs. What Walton has done in this biography is flesh out the tale with stories of key events from the times in which she lived, especially when they link in with one of the wax likenesses she created. For me, this was hit and miss. I think it would be useful and interesting for someone unfamiliar with said events. However, for someone like me who's read extensively about the French Revolution and is familiar with the tales of people like Burke and Hare, this was text I only skimmed through, as it was information I didn't need. Overall, though, this is a very readable work, and one that will appeal to those with a deep interest in history as well as casual readers wishing to learn more about the woman behind the modern museums.