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"A grand yet intimate look at the Sun King, a tale rich with detail and action."—Library Journal (Starred Review, one of the best historical novels of the year)
Before Versailles transports you to a world of secret passions and plots, a world of duplicity and malice...a world that created one of the best–known monarchs to grace the French throne.
At the most decisive time in the young king's life, Louis XIV can taste the danger. His court teems with greed and corruption, the wrong woman draws him into a wrenching love affair, and a mysterious boy in an iron mask haunts the woods. The untried ruler is coming into his own in 1661, and Louis XIV must face what he is willing to sacrifice for honor and for love.
Meticulously researched and gorgeously brought to life by New York Times bestselling author Karleen Koen, Before Versailles offers up a sumptuous, authentic exploration of a time that forged a man into a king.
Praise for Before Versailles:
"In this magnificently written and researched novel, Karleen Koen brings to vibrant life the early years and loves of the future Sun King."—Jean M. Auel, author of The Clan of the Cave Bear and the Land of Painted Caves
"A baroque cornucopia spilling over with intrigue, passion, jealousy, ambition, and rich historical detail, Before Versailles offers a glittering glimpse of the crucial months that shaped Louis XIV into Europe's most powerful monarch."—Eleanor Herman, author of Sex with Kings
- Sales Rank: #982554 in Books
- Published on: 2012-09-01
- Released on: 2012-09-01
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.90" h x 1.10" w x 5.90" l, 1.00 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 400 pages
Amazon.com Review
Guest Reviewer: Jean M. Auel on Before Versailles
Jean M. Auel is an international phenomenon. Her Earth's Children® series has sold more than 45 million copies worldwide and includes The Clan of the Cave Bear, The Valley of Horses, The Mammoth Hunters, The Plains of Passage, The Shelters of Stone, and The Land of Painted Caves. Her extensive research has earned her the respect of archaeologists and anthropologists around the world. She has honorary degrees from four universities and was honored by the French government's Ministry of Culture with the medal of an "Officer in the Order of Arts and Letters." She lives with her husband, Ray, in Oregon.
I’ve enjoyed Karleen Koen’s writing since I first read Through a Glass Darkly many years ago, so I was delighted to have the chance to read her latest, Before Versailles. Louis XIV is a fascinating monarch and Koen has rendered him perfectly in these pages: he’s smart, dashing, cunning, manipulative--everything one expects from a King, even one as young as twenty-two. Koen has wisely chosen a few months in 1661 during the early reign of Louis in which to tell this story; these are perhaps the most decisive months of his monarchy and she shows opposing forces pulling him in many directions as he makes his decisions, as well as his reasons for making them. I was intrigued by the lives of the women closest to him: Louise de la Baume le Blanc, the young beauty who is just learning the ways of the court when she is seduced by the King, and the gorgeous Princess Henriette, Louis’s brother’s wife who loves the taste of danger and isn’t above flirting (perhaps a bit too much!) with the receptive King. I loved reading about Louis’s mother--the lover of Louis’s former advisor Cardinal Mazarin--a profound influence in his political decisions. Karleen Koen leaves us wondering if she can be trusted? Koen also dramatically weaves in a scary and mysterious subplot involving a boy in an iron mask, a poor child who could ruin everything for the young and virile King.
Lush descriptions jump off the page and into the imagination and by the time you’ve finished, you’ll feel you’ve lived a few intimate months with these vivid characters. If you’ve not yet visited the chateau de Fontainebleau or seen the magnificent gardens of Versailles you’ll be planning your own tour de France soon after reading the last page, inspired by Karleen Koen's fascinating research and intriguing exploration of the young Louis and his entourage. I strongly encourage you to read Koen’s latest, Before Versailles.
Vive la France!
Jean M. Auel
Review
"A book for the lovers of French history. Love, lust, betrayal and intrigue.
" - Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell
" I have been a fan of Karleen Koen for many years since I read the first book Through a Glass Darkly and she did not disappoint me with this book. A historical fiction novel that will appeal to readers who love the genre. I thoroughly enjoyed it. " - Celtic Lady's Reviews
"I read this book on sunny afternoons during the summer with a tall glass of iced tea while I sat under the tree in the backyard. And once in a while, when the breeze blows I can almost imagine myself transported to Versailles as vividly described as it is in the book. The description of the characters and their setting is so colorful that I easily got lost in that world, immersed in the intrigues and machinations of court life. Just my kind of book for a summer escape!" - Found Not Lost
"This book is a veritable feast for anyone interested in 17th century France and its star, Louis XIV. " - Thoughts from Lady Tess
About the Author
Karleen Koen is interested in history, particularly women's place in it. Love and hate, gender issues, and spiritual quests are themes she explores in her fiction. She lives in Houston and is also the author of Dark Angels and Now Face to Face. Her blog, called Writing Life, is at www.wordpress.karleenkoen.com.
Most helpful customer reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful.
"What a web deceit made, its strands strangling the guilty and the innocent alike."
By Luan Gaines
Koen has a unique talent for ferreting out the particularities of history in character and place, the result authentic and satisfying as a hearty meal. Before Versailles describes twenty-two year old King Louis XIV's early days on the throne of France. After the death of Cardinal Mazarin in 1661, hand-picked successor to Cardinal Richelieu, Louis breaks from the tradition of monarchs willing to forfeit the affairs of state to powerful counselors, giving much consideration to the men who aspire to be his advisors, particularly his Minister of Finance, Viscount Nicholas Fouquet, his brother, Philippe, Duke d' Orleans and Philippe's closest confidant, the Count de Guiche. None is privy to the quiet rebellion and political maturation of an extraordinary young ruler with an incisive intelligence and the patience to mold his kingdom into an absolute monarchy.
Fully-fleshed characters inhabit the young king's court, the secrets and passions, plots and assignations in service to winning favor or usurp power, deadly serious games where the future of a kingdom is at stake. Behind the frivolous façade of merrymakers at Fontainebleau, Louis newly wed to the Spanish Marie Terese, Philippe the proud husband of the delectable and fun-loving beauty Henriette, the serious business of governance is played on two levels, the gossip-riddled daily activities of the court and the quiet corridors of power, where deals and fortunes are made, Louis's relative inexperience pitted against the sophisticated machinations of a man whose pride rivals that of a king. Fouquet is a formidable adversary, Louis certainly his equal, a network of spies sharing information in exchange for favor, the laughing faces of courtiers hiding duplicity and malice, greed and corruption.
Louis is the center of a young court in flux: the Queen Mother's affiliation with Mazarin and the loyalties bred of that union; lady-in-waiting Louise de la Baume le Blanc, an anomaly in a jaded court; the malleable Philippe, made more vulnerable by his weakness; Jean-Baptiste Colbert, silent chronicler of the government's excesses; a mysterious boy in an iron mask; the enchanting Henriette, basking in admiration, tempted by a flirtation with the king; and the ambitious Louis XIV, still subject to the vagaries of his heart, betrayed yet resolute, carrying the weight of France's future on his shoulders. While the male characters are defined by ambition and the arrogance of entitlement, Koen's females are equally devious: a Queen Mother clutching her crucifix with an iron fist; the thwarted affection of Countess de Soissons; the claculated intrigues of the Duchess de Chevreuse; foolish Duchess d' Orleans, inhaling the heady air of celebrity, tampering with men's affections; and the kind-hearted Louise, her lack of guile a balm to a besieged king. With a delicate balance of threat and subterfuge, Louis's secret schemes come to fruition in a breathtaking climax as the dominoes fall in a swift yet delicate execution forged of patience and deliberation. Luan Gaines/2011.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful.
A bit underwhelmed
By Misfit
Koen's latest book tackles a short period in the life of a young Louis XIV. Cardinal Mazarin is dead, and Louis is now in control of the government - a government seriously short of cash - although the Superintendent of Finances sure does have a pocketful of it. Louis is newly married to Maria Teresa of Spain, but at the moment he only has eyes for his brother's new wife, Henriette (sister to Charles II) and Henriette definitely reciprocates the feelings.
Meantime Louise de La Vallière, one of Henriette's ladies in waiting, becomes involved in the mystery surrounding a young man whose face is hidden behind an iron mask. What, if any connection is this young boy to the royal family, and why is someone so desperate to keep his existence a secret? Yep, there's a whole lot more to it than that but I'll not spoil, although if you are familiar with it all you know where Louise's story goes from here...
Despite a set of circumstances that promises a deliciously meaty, scandalous read, I found this rather underwhelming, especially coming from the author who gave us Through a Glass Darkly (on my all time favorites list). The characters were all rather flat and lifeless (even Philippe and de Guiche were not as hateable as they should be), and there was definitely not much chemistry between Louis and Louise. The repetitive sentences drove me seriously batty,
"The handsome young king of France was hesitant before her. The handsome young king of France desired her. The handsome young king of France loved her."
In the end, this isn't a bad book by any means, but it doesn't have the kind of punch Louis and his love life deserves. I have read the entire Musketeer series by Alexandre Dumas (part of which tells of the relationship between Louis and Louise as well as his own take on the Man in the Iron Mask), and I couldn't help comparing his take on the characters as opposed to Koen's, and Dumas definitely wins out. Library only, then buy it if you love it.
Interested in trying the Dumas books? Here's the series in order and they are available free on Kindle. Can't speak for the quality of the translation on these so enter at your own risk (they are free after all), but if you're looking for a dead tree version I'd recommend the Oxford World's Classics Editions.
The Three Musketeers
Twenty Years After
The Vicomte de Bragelonne
Louise de la Valliere
The Man in the Iron Mask.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
An entertaining book.
By Bookreporter
I've always had a soft spot for the antics of the French court --- even more so than the English courts --- and I'm the type of person who can't turn down a story about the Tudors. In books revolving around the monarchy, whether French or English, one can't have a story without a mistress. Let's face it, that's what makes the story. Isn't that why these books are so much fun? Oh it is, and Karleen Koen doesn't disappoint.
Cardinal Mazarin, the French prime minister, is dead. Louis XIV, only 22 years old, is now king of France, and a king with power. That power is not yet firmly grasped, but he's intent on learning to yield it fully. Unaware of many of the financial arrangements his mother and the Cardinal made while ruling in his stead, he's in for a surprise when he finally takes it upon himself to investigate. Unsure of his financial minister's monetary affairs and how mingled they are with the crown's accounts, he has suspicions and employs a faithful counselor to help him sort through the courtly promises and financial advice being offered.
To add another distraction, Louis has fallen in love with his brother Philippe's wife, Princess Henriette, a woman captivating not only the king but the entire French court. A man not used to being denied, Louis attempts to make Henriette his mistress against the wishes of not only his brother but also his mother, who believes it will be his downfall. He is married to a woman he greatly admires for her breeding and royal pedigree, but he doesn't truly love her and is looking for a distraction she can't provide. Louis knows it's the idea of passion and surprise that comes from his illicit affair with Henriette, but he can't help himself. To calm the court, Henriette suggests he flirt with one of her maids, a shy but very pretty young woman named Louise. Then something happens that he didn't expect --- Louis finds he might have fallen in love.
BEFORE VERSAILLES started slowly. It was almost as if it was waiting for Louis to find his footing as king; once he found his confidence, so did the story. While the affair between Louis and Henriette is more intense, his affair with Louise is completely the opposite (but, in a way, more satisfying). All the court intrigue requirements are met and then some. Oddly, the financial scandal is also quite good, adding a harder edge to what is mostly a love story. It's a nice contrast for Louis as he grows into his role as a king. What he's dealing with on the political level makes you see why he craves love in the quieter parts of his life.
In stories about kings and mistresses, politics sometimes gets pushed to the side and becomes background noise. That doesn't happen here, and it's refreshing. There is a small side story involving Louise that feels slightly out of place, but it's the only stumble in an otherwise entertaining book.
--- Reviewed by Amy Gwiazdowski
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