Publisher's Synopsis
We meet Jean-Marie d'Aumout as a penniless orphan eating beetles by the side of a road. His fate is changed after he finds patronage and is sent to a military academy. Despite his lowly roots, and thanks to wit and courage in great measure, he grows up to become a diplomat and spy. Passion, political intrigue and international adventure abound in Jean-Marie's life, yet he is driven by one obsession: the pursuit of the perfect taste. Rising through the ranks of eighteenth-century French society, he feasts with lords, ladies, and eventually kings at the Palace of Versailles itself. But beyond the palace walls, revolution is in the air, and the country is clamouring with hunger of a different kind...
