Synopses & Reviews
Françoise dAubigné, marquise de Maintenon and secret wife of the Sun King, Louis XIV, was born in a bleak French prison in 1635, her father a condemned traitor and murderer, her mother the wardens seduced daughter. A timely pardon and a hopeful Caribbean colonial venture failed to mend the familys fortunes, and Françoise was reduced to begging in the streets. 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.
At fifteen, she was married off to the forty-two-year-old satirical poet Paul Scarron, a former roué now grievously deformed by rheumatisma sort of human Z,” as he described himself. Despite his ailments, Scarron presided over the liveliest and most scandalous literary salon in Paris, and Françoise quickly became its most prized ornament.
After Scarrons death, she enjoyed a merry widowhood in the fashionable Marais district, in the company of the courtesan Ninon de Lenclos and the Kings splendid mistress, Athénaïs de Montespan, who made the young widow governess to her brood of illegitimate children. The appointment transformed Françoises life, but was fatal to the temperamental Athénaïs herself, with the King soon turning his attentions to the graceful governess. Françoise was raised to the nobility as Madame de Maintenonand, unofficially, Madame de Maintenant,” the lady of the moment.The acclaimed biographer Veronica Buckley traces the extraordinary story of Françoises progress from pauper child to salonnière to the compromised position of Louiss secret wife and uncrowned Queen. An absolute ruler, Louis turned away his many other mistresses to live with Françoise only, trusting her as his closest confidante and remaining in love with her for forty years.
Sparkling with the irresistible wit of contemporary chroniclers such as Madame de Sévigné, this exactingly researched biography is a pinnacle of the form. In vibrant colors, The Secret Wife of Louis XIV paints a portrait of Europe in an age of violent change, and the Sun Kings France in the process of becoming its modern self.
Review
Praise for The Secret Wife of Louis XIV
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 aimto 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
Praise for Christina, Queen of Sweden
A stunning debut and an absorbing page-turner. Veronica Buckley writes with immense style, vitality, and great humanity. The fascinating tale she weaves is as compelling as the most riveting of novels.” Alison Weir, author of The Six Wives of Henry VII
An impressive first biography, Christina, Queen of Sweden: The Restless Life of a European Eccentric not only justifies its subtitle in fascinating biographical detail but also provides an interesting commentary on gender and rule.” Antonia Fraser, author of Love and Louis XIV
Vividly persuasive . . . [Shifts] capably between the hilarious and the deeply touching . . . [Christina] rises from the pages of this richly evocative book . . . as a complex, thoroughly believable human being.” Bruce Bawer, The New York Times Book Review
Buckleys witty and highly coloured prose is eminently suited to such a bizarre and self-dramatised life . . . Her book is much less a debut than the highly polished work of a writer who has been thinking about and loving her subject for years, and her enjoyment in the writing of Queen Christinas life is wonderfully translated into our pleasure in reading it.” The Sunday Times (London)
Review
“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
Synopsis
Françoise dAubigné, marquise de Maintenon, was born in a French prison in 1635, her father a condemned traitor and murderer, her mother the wardens 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.
About the Author
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.