Women of Versailles: the Court of Louis XIV

Jean de La Bruyère famously characterized Versailles as "that region where joys were visible but false, and vexations hidden but real." In this witty and scholarly book, Baron Arthur-Léon Imbert de Saint-Amand explores the solar system of the Sun King with its planets, the women of the court, now orbiting in warm proximity to the monarch, now hurtling away under his glacial disfavor. Here are his neglected queen, Maria Theresa, his imperious mistress, Madame de Montespan, his illegitimate daughters, and his final consort, the pious and influential, Madame de Maintenon.(Summary by Pamela Nagami, M.D.)