MISTRESS OF THE SUN – Sandra Gulland
A Perfect 10
Touchstone
ISBN: 0-7432-9887-X
June 2008
Historical Fiction

Amboise and Paris, France – The Time of the Sun King

Louise, known as Petite, is the daughter of minor impoverished nobility living in Amboise, in the Loire region, about 150 miles from Paris. The story opens when she is six years old. Petite is attracted by the horsemanship she sees at a traveling show and a white horse, Diablo who, it is said, cannot be tamed. Her father, Laurent, buys the horse at her behest. Nothing Petite does can calm the horse. Eventually, her father talks of getting rid of the horse and, desperate to keep him, Louise tries an ancient practice, bone magic, to tame the white. She succeeds, but at what cost? Will she forfeit her soul and life’s happiness to the devil?

Later that year, Laurent dies and life is never the same again. Petite goes to an Ursuline convent in Tours. There she feels safe, and her deeply spiritual nature flowers. Petite wishes to become a nun, but her family does not have the funds, so when her mother remarries, Petite joins her mother and her new husband, chief steward to Gaston, Duc d’Orleans at Blois. Ten-year-old Petite lacks a dowry and is slightly lame, rendering her unmarriageable, so the Marquis finds her a place as a waiting maid to Princess Marguerite, daughter of Gaston, also ten years old. Marguerite is tentatively promised to marry the king, but this does not occur and when Gaston dies, Petite becomes part of the household of Henriette, wife of Phillipe, younger brother of the king.

Gradually, this timid, athletic girl attracts the eye of Louis the Fourteenth. Already dedicated to the king, Petite gives her whole heart into his keeping, reluctantly becoming his mistress and bearing four children by him. She achieves honors, both for family and herself, but eventually only sees them as part the prison that is court life. Petite loves Louis, not the king. MISTRESS OF THE SUN is the story of the true love of Louis’s life, Louise de la Valliere.

Louise de la Valliere is one of those fascinating women at whom we can only marvel. Even had she lived today, her life would be the stuff of fantasy, almost impossible to believe. Louis XIV was as famous as today’s rock stars. It was commonly held that his touch alone could drive out evil. Author Sandra Gulland creates a fictional history out of real people and their stories, recreating a world and a culture with exquisite and fantastic detail. MISTRESS OF THE SUN is like a fine meal, to be savored and enjoyed. Take your time with this one, you will not want it to end.

Lisa Baca