Julie d'Aubigny was a real swordswoman in the late 17th century, a famous opera singer, who'd kiss the girls and duel the boys, and I selected this book for my book club because man, what a badass (and also because we had gushed about her once and so I looked up any historical fictional accounts on her life).

The book, overall, wound up being satisfactory, though it fell a little flat for me. The framing device - Julie confessing her sins on her death bed - was well done and I really quite liked that. The third person prose sections lost something for me in the writing style, whether it was because of the constant POV switches or just because I don't love third-person present tense. The present tense could have been effective in making the scenes seem like a shift to Julia reflecting on her life, a kind of 'life is flashing before my eyes' kind of thing, except for the fact that it was told from so many different POVs that the effect was greatly diminished; it can't be Julia's life flashing before her eyes if I'm getting it from the perspective of some random, nameless dude in a bar, or if she's not in the scenes at all. The apparent emphasis on aesthetic morality (the belief that beauty equates to goodness) also left a bad taste in my mouth.

There were a lot of excellent moments that made me laugh or cheer for Julia, and I'm glad I read this book. There's one particularly beautiful scene where Julia watches La Monja Alferez, a play about Catalina, which I found especially poignant. I'll certainly be checking out some of the non-fiction reads that Gardiner listed at the back of her novel. Would I recommend the book? Probably not, unless Julie d'Aubigny happens to pop up naturally in conversation, however.

i love the subject of julie d'aubigny. but this book's prose was a struggle to read. lots of short, choppy fragments in some chapters (third-person ones) offset by rambling in others (first-person ones).

What a fascinating woman.

I really wanted to love this book soso much. The subject material is exciting and fascinating and you can see the author actively weaving her best to bring it to life. But ultimately it didn't grip me the way I hope, and it always felt like the passages of Julie rambling to the boring priest were so much longer than the actual flashbacks into her life.

For me this is a great story that was told poorly. Long first person sections were repetitive and annoying. When I got to the end of the book, I still didn't feel like I knew the character, only the main events of her life, and half the book was a "confessional" to a priest! I never felt true love, passion, regret, motivation etc from Julie. The third person sections were too short and non-descriptive. I really wanted to love this book because she led a fascinating life.