In 1793, when Marie Antoinette was beheaded at the guillotine, she left her adored eight-year-old son imprisoned in the Temple Tower. Far from inheriting a throne, the orphaned boy-king had to endure the hostility and abuse of a nation. Two years later, the revolutionary leaders declared Louis XVII dead. No grave was dug, no monument built to mark his passing.

Immediately, rumors spread that the prince had, in fact, escaped from prison and was still alive. Others believed that he had been murdered, his heart cut out and preserved as a relic. As with the tragedies of England's princes in the Tower and the Romanov archduchess Anastasia, countless brothers soon approached Louis-Charles's older sister, Marie-Therese, who survived the revolution. They claimed not only the dauphin's name, but also his inheritance. Several princes were plausible, but which, if any, was the real heir to the French throne?

The Lost King of France is a moving and dramatic tale that interweaves a pivotal moment in France's history with a compelling detective story that involves pretenders to the crown, royalist plots and palace intrigue, bizarre legal battles, and modern science. The quest for the truth continued into the twenty-first century, when, thanks to DNA testing, the strange odyssey of a stolen heart found within the royal tombs brought an exciting conclusion to the two-hundred-year-old mystery of the lost king of France.

Deborah Cadbury is an award-winning journalist specializing in the fundamental issues of science and history and their effects on today's society. She is also the author of the highly acclaimed books Terrible Lizard and The Estrogen Effect. She has produced science programs for BBC television and has won numerous international science film awards, including an Emmy. She lives in London, England. Louis-Charles, duc de Normandie, enjoyed a charmed early childhood in the gilded palace of Versailles. At the age of four, he became the dauphin, heir to the most powerful throne in Europe. Yet within five years he was to lose everything. Drawn into the horror of the French Revolution, his family was incarcerated and their fate thrust into the hands of revolutionaries who wished to destroy the monarchy.

In 1793, when Marie Antoinette was beheaded at the guillotine, she left her adored eight-year-old son imprisoned in the Temple Tower. Far from inheriting a throne, the orphaned boy-king had to endure the hostility and abuse of a nation. Two years later the revolutionary leaders declared Louis XVII dead. No grave was dug, no monument built to mark his passing.

Immediately, rumors spread that the prince had in fact escaped from prison and was still alive. Others believed that he had been murdered, his heart cut out and preserved as a relic. As with the tragedies of England's princes in the Tower and the Romanov archduchess Anastasia, countless brothers soon approached Louis-Charles's older sister, Marie-Therese, who survived the revolution. They claimed not only the dauphin's name, but also his inheritance. Several princes were plausible, but which, if any, was the real heir to the French throne?

The Lost King of France is a moving and dramatic tale that interweaves a pivotal moment in France's history with a compelling detective story that involves pretenders to the crown, royalist plots and palace intrigue, bizarre legal battles, and modern science. The quest for the truth continued into the twenty-first century, when, thanks to DNA testing, the strange odyssey of a stolen heart found within the royal tombs brought an exciting conclusion to the two-hundred-year-old mystery of the lost king of France. Absolutely stupendous . . . This is history as it should be. I can't praise this book] highly enough. It is stunningly written; I could not put it down. This is the best account of the French Revolution I have ever read.--Alison Weir, author of Henry VIII: The King and His Court

A wonderful book . . . Cadbury's fascinating account of a child victim of revolutionary brutality is a masterly synthesis of science and narrative history that provides a definitive solution to a celebrated mystery. Authoritative, lucid, and utterly absorbing.--Anne Somerset, author of Elizabeth I

A first-class read--informative, entertaining, and a great grand adventure. Most noteworthy.--Margaret George, author of The Autobiography of Henry VIII

Cadbury lays out in fascinating detail the historical mystery of the royal heir and] uses modern science to try to solve it.--The Wall Street Journal

Cadbury offers] a smart, informed and excruciating examination of what may be the French Revolution's cruelest episode . . . An accessible account of the French royal family and] a puzzling mystery of great magnitude and depth.--The Washington Times

Unputdownable. I was already familiar with the story of the French royal family's end, but Deborah Cadbury succeeds in conveying the human tragedy of it more emotively than any other writer. Added to that, her book has the gripping pace of a thriller and offers the ultimate satisfaction in revealing how a historical mystery has been solved by modern science. For fascinating insights into history, I cannot recommend this too highly.--Maureen Waller, author of 1700: Scenes from London Life

An absorbing tale, combining sound history and modern science. The restrained description of the suffering of the little prince from the officious sadism of the revolutionary officials serves only to add poign