A long-sought historical novel about a Princess of Monaco finally found

Jennifer Ellis' A Princess Dies is a historical novel that's been on my wishlist for 20 years.  I found mention of it in an early volume of Cumulated Fiction Index, a series of guides to British fiction by subject.  The Graduate Library at the University of Michigan, where I went to library school, owns copies of most CFI volumes (I've since purchased them all for my personal library).  I used to spend hours in their reference room going through these books, jotting down the titles of historical novels about people who sounded interesting.  My special interest was lesser-known members of royal or noble families.

Last month I got an automated email from Abebooks that one of their sellers had a copy.  The price ($40ish) was high but not unreasonable given how hard to find the book is.  I snapped it up, and now it's sitting on my desk.  The condition is pretty good considering the book was published the year I was born.  Thanks to the Cornwall County Library in Truro for withdrawing it from their collection!  From the slip pasted onto the flyleaf, it was last checked out in December 1972.

The novel's subject is Françoise-Thérèse de Choiseul-Stainville, Princesse Joséph de Monaco, who was one of the last victims of the guillotine during the French Revolution.  The book's title (depressing, I know) gives away the ending.  I'm eager to read more about her life in this novelized biography, since you don't read much about the Monegasque royal family in fiction.  It promises to be a different take on a well-known historical event.  Per the blurb, it's based on research that Ellis did in the Archives of the Palace of Monaco and in the Grimaldi family's private papers.  She dedicated her book to Princess Grace, "another lovely but happier Princess of Monaco."

I haven't had the best luck with books I've waited years to read; Sea Change by Robert Goddard (one of my favorite thriller writers) turned out to be a big disappointment, and I wasn't captivated by Diana Norman's Daughter of Lir, either.  So I'm very curious to see how this one turns out.  I see I haven't done any posts in my Reviews of Obscure Books series in a few years, so it's about time for a new one.  I'll report back.