Adrienne

Adrienne is one of the three main protagonists. A member of the house of the Noailles family, 14-year-old Adrienne marries 16-year-old Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette in 1774. As the Marquis de Lafayette, Adrienne gives birth to four children, one of whom dies in childhood, and she acts as her husband’s aide-de-camp throughout his struggles to liberate both the United States and France in separate wars. When Lafayette sneaks passage to the United States to fight in their war for independence, thus defying the king, Adrienne refuses her father’s demand to coax Lafayette back to Paris. Once the future of the States is secured, Adrienne communicates with and hosts prominent Americans such as Benjamin Franklin and George Washington, fostering a Franco-American relationship. Often called France’s “Mother of the Nation,” she helps Lafayette to push for the French Revolution and supports her husband’s creation of...