The Secret Wife of Louis XIV Françoise d'Aubigné, Madame de Maintenon

by Buckley, Veronica

• ISBN13: 9780312430054
• ISBN10: 0312430051
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-08-31
• Publisher: Picador

Summary

Françoise drs"Aubigné, marquise de Maintenon, was born in a French prison in 1635, her father a condemned traitor and murderer, her mother the wardenrs"s seduced daughter. Yet, armed with beauty, intellect, and shrewd judgment, she was to make her way to the center of power at Versailles, the most opulent and ambitious court in all Europe. Sparkling with irresistible wit, fine detail, and novelistic sweep, this exactingly researched biography is a pinnacle of the form.

Author Biography

Veronica Buckley was born and educated in New Zealand, and later studied at the Universities of London and Oxford. Christina, Queen of Sweden, was the subject of her much-praised first biography. She lived in Paris while researching The Secret Wife of Louis XIV, and now lives in Vienna.

Table of Contents

“Buckley finds a modern parable in the rags-to-riches story of a striving felon's daughter whose devotion won the debauched heart of an aging king.” —Vogue

“This real-life fairy tale is told with flair and compassion. . . . A well-written tribute to a woman whose ascent to power and wealth was achievable through sheer determination—and even more remarkably, without sacrificing the virtue of kindness.” —Carmela Ciuraru, The Christian Science Monitor

“A lively, sympathetic portrayal of the woman who, against all odds, succeeded in taming the royal tomcat . . . Buckley imaginatively penetrates her subject's innermost thoughts.” —Caroline Weber, The New York Times Book Review

“Buckley renders [Louis XIV's court] vividly, often comically, more often tragically. Dozens of indelible portraits walk these pages, one of the most comic and sad being Louis himself. It's long been a mystery how so vain and glorious a king was won over, so thoroughly, by an unassuming, aging, not especially glamorous woman. Buckley makes it all plain—and all too human.” —David Walton, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)

“Lively . . . Buckley has written an admirably balanced life with a wealth of biographical detail and great sympathy for her subject . . . An extraordinary adventure.” —The Economist

“Veronica Buckley writes extremely well, and her narrative never fails to grip. She succeeds in her main aim—to show how an intelligent woman in a deeply traditional age used her personal gifts to rise from near the bottom to the summit of the social and political ladder . . . [The Secret Wife of Louis XIV] is convincing and ultimately moving, a perceptive appreciation of a remarkable woman.” —Munro Price, The Sunday Telegraph