Louis possessed a consummate skill in turning those ambitions to his own advantage, and before he was thirty, he had become the hard, graceful, prowling lion of all of Europe. The ambitions of others were always faintly in the distance, or up close, naked, fangs gleaming. None of them could match him…įrom birth, war was his backdrop, and the nobility surrounding him as he grew to manhood was as proud as Lucifer himself and as trustworthy. His drive, cunning, and absolute determination to forge France into the premier kingdom of it’s time awed and frightened fellow kings. Intelligent, virile, handsome, a man who made himself master of all her surveyed, Louis XIV was the foremost figure of his age. He must face what he is willing to sacrifice for love.īut there are other problems lurking outside the chateau of Fontainebleau: a boy in an iron mask has been seen in the woods, and the king’s finance minister, Nicolas Fouquet, has proven more powerful than Louis ever thought-a man who make a great ally or become a dangerous foe…īefore Versailles: A Novel of Louis XIV offers the readers a four-month glimpse into the life of the young king who would become forever known as The Sun King. While the love affair between Louis and Princess Henrietta burns, his brother’s jealousy coupled with his mother’s rage at Louis’s lack of self-control, sets the kingdom on the road toward unmistakable scandal. He’s still a young man, but one who as king, willfully takes everything he can get-including his brother’s wife. But what was he like as a young man-the man before Versailles? Bestselling author Karleen Koen takes us back to a place and time where the decisive king was just beginning to establish the strength and wealth of his kingdom-despite the many forces pushing against him.Īfter the death of his prime minister, Cardinal Mazarin, twenty-two-year-old Louis steps into governing France. Louis XIV is perhaps one of the best known and most glamorous monarch ever to grace the French throne. How I Read It? Trade Paperback ARC from TLC Tours

Title: Before Versailles: A Novel of Louis XIV

Before Versailles by Karleen Koen