1- In Mistress of the Revolution , Gabrielle often makes difficult choices (when she becomes Villiers's mistress, when she accepts the position of lady-in-waiting, when she goes to work at the Theâtre.) In her place, would you have chosen other options?

2- Gabrielle is, for all intents and purposes, abandoned at birth by her mother. How does she cope with it?

3- Do you think Gabrielle is a good mother? How does her relationship with her daughter evolve throughout the book?

4- Do you see Gabrielle's brother, the Marquis de Montserrat, as a villain, or do you feel some sympathy for him?

5- Is Gabrielle passive? Does she accept the limits imposed on women of her class and time, or does she strive to forge her own path?

6- When Gabrielle arrives in Paris as a widow at the age of seventeen, she is not reunited with her former love. Why not?

7- Is the portrait of Queen Marie-Antoinette in Mistress of the Revolution different from what you read in other books or saw in films?

8- How are the stark realities of the Terror foreshadowed in the luxurious lifestyle of the aristocracy before the Revolution?

9- How does Gabrielle's attitude towards religion in general, and her own faith, evolve throughout the novel?

10- Mistress of the Revolution begins as a memoir. How, and why does the tone and purpose of Gabrielle's narrative evolve?

11- Did Mistress of the Revolution change your image of the French Revolution? If yes, how so?  

12- Did the conclusion of the novel surprise you? Is it a "happy ending"?