Review
'enthralling listening - as Pat Hodge reads (superbly!)... Fraser draws the listener into the world of splendour and intrigue, injecting fresh life into the long-dead characters who inhabited it.' -- Kati Nicholl DAILY EXPRESS 'Antonia Fraser rightly enjoys widespread respect for her historical biographies, thanks not only to the quality of her work but also to her unique and intimate approach... an expansive and vivid account of life in the court of Louis le Grand.' Books Quarterly 'This audiobook represents an ideal three-way marriage of subject, author, and reader (Patricia Hodge). Fraser deploys her knowledge with practised art and magisterial sweep... The centuries roll back in six and a half fascinating hours.' -- Betty Tadman THE SCOTSMAN '[part of a] fabulous array of spoken word material' -- Vidar Hjardeng THE BOOK MAGAZINE 'Notwithstanding some voyeuristic airing of the monogrammed linen, Fraser's version of the 17th-century French monarch's life takes seriously the political and religious context of the times to produce an enlightening study of the age that glitters with seductive descriptions of Versailles ceremony and luxury. Hodge reads with queenly grace.' -- Karen Robinson THE SUNDAY TIMES
Product Description
The book centres around the Sun King and his relationship with numerous and fascinating women. Naturally dividing into five parts it will concentrate on the King's mother, Anne of Austria to whom he was devoted; his first important mistress, Louise de la Valliere who bore him several illegitimate children; Athenais Marquise de Montespan who acted as unofficial Queen of Versailles until her involvement in the affair of poisons and of course Marie Therese, his wife; and Madame de Maintenon, governess to the illegitimate royal children. The fifth part concentrates on his relations in old age with his daughters, granddaughters and the wife of his grandson. It will vividly bring to life the vast edifice of Louis XIV's court - the magnificence, artistic splendour, elaborate ritual and in some cases, absurdity and misery.
