The novel is set at the heart of the Grand Siècle, under the reign of Louis XIV. Every figure presented here truly existed; the novel draws on their memoirs, correspondence, and archives to render their roles with rigour.
King of France. The realm’s centre of gravity. Everything is decided in his name — often far from his sight.
A flamboyant favourite of Louis XIV, adorned with the insignia of the Order of the Holy Spirit. His meteoric rise at Court precedes his fall and imprisonment by very little.
The same man, years later, within his cell — the muffled brutality of power toward those it has loved, or tolerated, too well.
A princess of the blood, known as la Grande Mademoiselle. Radiant, excessive, unpredictable. Henri de Barail’s protector, a formidable ally — and, at times, a tyrant.
Captain-lieutenant of the King’s Musketeers and a trusted servant of Louis XIV. He died at the siege of Maastricht in 1673.
Louis XIV’s brother. His court at Saint-Cloud and the Palais du Luxembourg is a hotbed of intrigue and liberties the realm tolerates only half-openly.
Élisabeth-Charlotte of the Palatinate, known as Madame Palatine. Philippe d’Orléans’s wife and a fiercely candid memoirist, she records the Court’s morals without flinching.
Philippe d’Orléans’s lover. An emblematic figure of the passions the Court tolerates in silence, so long as they remain veiled.