The La Motte Woman

by Devlin, Mary Martin

• ISBN13: 9781944453121
• ISBN10: 1944453121
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2021-06-15
• Publisher: Cuidono Press

Summary

Daughter of a bastard branch of French royalty, Jeanne de La Motte-Valois descends like a whirlwind on 1780s Paris. Jeanne rises by luck and pluck from the depths of childhood beggary to the pinnacle of court and Paris society, and cannot rest until she amasses the riches needed to support a life style befitting a princess. When she crosses paths with Prince Cardinal Louis de Rohan, the handsome, wealthy scion of the mighty house of Rohan, his own obsessive ambitions play perfectly into her plans. Add to this volatile mix the crown jewelers Bohmer and Bassenge, who in their bid for artistic immortality create a diamond necklace whose purchase would bankrupt a nation. From the glittering intricacies of the royal court to the dark cells of the Bastille, the La Motte woman concocts a masterful swindle that will rock the French throne and drag Marie Antoinette’s name into the gutter.

Author Biography

A former professor of English and creative writing at Mount Holyoke College, Mary Martin Devlin has a long-held fascination with the true scandal of the necklace that helped to ruin the reputation of Marie Antoinette. Devlin taught as a Fulbright professor in France and Tunisia and has translated and collaborated on books regarding the African AIDS epidemic and the politics of the Congo. She is the author of Precious Pawn, based on the memoir of an aristocrat in the decadent years of Louis XV, and Death in the Rainy Season, set among the American and European expat community of 1980s Zaire.