“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 on The Secret Wife of Louis Xiv

The Secret Wife of Louis Xiv

ISBN: 9780312430054


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The Secret Wife of Louis Xiv


by Veronica Buckley


Françoise d’Aubigné, marquise de Maintenon, was born in a French prison in 1635, her father a condemned traitor and murderer, her mother the warden’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.