Publisher's Synopsis
Versailles, 1667. Louis XIV is 28 years old and King of France. Still haunted by the memory of the Fronde, an opposition lead by the nobility against his father, Louis knows that he must tame the French aristocracy or risk being toppled by them. Louis conceives of the construction of Versailles - the greatest palace the world has ever seen - as a gilded prison designed to keep the nobles out of Paris and under his control. As his enemies circle, Louis XIV proves to be an extraordinary strategist, manipulative and Machiavellian. There is nothing he will not do to insure his sovereignty.
