Meager Mercies

A novel based on the true story of an 8-year-old boy who spent nine months in solitary confinement

By: Lizzi Wolf

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Length: 2 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

Paris, France. 1793. After his father, Louis XVI, and mother, Marie-Antoinette, are beheaded in the French Revolution, 8-year-old King Louis XVII is sealed into a pitch-dark closet and isolated from all human contact. Struggling to survive the darkness, silence, and loneliness, Louis tries to make sense of the cataclysmic events—beginning in 1789, when he was 4 years old—that led to the destruction of his cherished family. As he endures the brutal consequences of his father’s misguided reign, the young king wonders why the French people hated his parents so much, and how he might rise above their moral failings.

"Told in the naïve and endearing voice of an innocent child whose life is determined by bewildering forces and facts he struggles to understand. The story is gripping . . . . The boy is so charming, and his situation so terrible, the reader cannot give up hoping for small mercies."
--- Professor Michael Brent, Washington University.

This novel explores "darkness, loneliness, and cruelty, but also love, strength, and childhood innocence . . . Ultimately, woven through the politics of revolution and power, the reader is subtly guided to perhaps the most fundamental question of all: Is a life defined by external circumstances or internal fortitude?"
--- Allen Newcomb

Excerpt:

I am King Louis XVII, supreme monarch of France, but my realm of influence is no bigger than a dank, rat-infested storage closet in the tower of a Medieval castle. I used to think a King is someone who goes out hunting each morning and returns with dozens of boars, stag, partridge, and hare, to be roasted on a spit and served for supper. I used to worry that I wouldn’t be a good King, because I don’t like to kill things. Now I know a King is someone whose family is dragged out of bed in the middle of the night and forced to live in a strange place, surrounded by blood-thirsty mobs and teaming with poison-wielding assassins.

Versailles
6 October 1789

“Wake up, Dauphin!”
Madam Campan was shaking my shoulder.
The windows were dark.
“It’s not morning yet.”
“Shhh. Get out of bed.”
“Why?”
“We’re going to the Queen’s bedchamber.” . . .

About the author: Lizzi's Wolf's other novels include Athena's Shield: A novel of the Spartacus Slave Revolt (2021) & The Versailles of Sadness: A novel of Gothic Psychiatry (2022) and The House of the Red Shield: A novel of the Jewish Enlightenment (2023). To learn more about Lizzi, or to contact her, check out her Amazon author page or her web page at Lizziwolf.com (or search: Lizzi Wolf Ph.D.).