This vintage book contains Alexandre Dumas's 1849 historical novel, "Louise De La Valliere". The Third instalment of the final episode in the D'Artagnan Romances, it continues the narrative that started with "The Vicomte de Bragelonne" and "Ten Years Later". Louis XIV is desperate to solidify his position as absolute ruler of France. Impending turmoil forces the Musketeers and d'Artagnan to come out of retirement, but is it for the right reasons?...

Assuming the responsibilities of governing France after the death of his prime minister, Louis XIV embarks on a love affair with his sister-in-law, Henriette, triggering a scandal that is complicated by a finance minister's growing power and a mysterious boy with an iron mask.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) was a Scottish physician and writer known around the world for his stories about detective Sherlock Holmes, which all but created the literary field of crime fiction and made the name Sherlock Holmes synonymous with detectives. Aside from the Sherlock Holmes stories, he was a prolific writer whose other works include science fiction stories, historical novels, plays and romances, poetry, and non-fiction.

...

"When Twenty Years After opens it is 1648: the Red Sphinx, Cardinal Richelieu, is dead, France is ruled by a regency in the grip of civil war, and across the English Channel the monarchy of King Charles I hangs by a thread. As d'Artagnan will find, these are problems that can't be solved with a sword thrust. In Twenty Years After, the musketeers confront maturity and face its greatest challenge: sometimes, you fail. It's in how the four comrades respond...

In the year 1689, a cabal of Barbary galley slaves — including one Jack Shaftoe, aka King of the Vagabonds, aka Half-Cocked Jack — devises a daring plan to win freedom and fortune. A great adventure ensues — a perilous race for an enormous prize of silver ... nay, gold ... nay, legendary gold.

In Europe, the exquisite and resourceful Eliza, Countess de la Zeur, is stripped of her immense personal fortune by France's most

...

"London, 1679 -- A year has passed since the sensational attempt to murder King Charles II, but London is still a viper's nest of rumored Catholic conspiracies, and of plots against them in turn. When Harry Hunt -- estranged from his mentor Robert Hooke -- is summoned to the remote and windswept marshes of Norfolk, he is at first relieved to get away from the place. But in Norfolk, he finds that some Royal workers shoring up a riverbank have made...

At the most decisive time in the young king's life, Louise XIV can taste the danger. His court teems with greed and corruption, the wrong woman draws him into a wrenching love affair, and a mysterious boy in an iron mask haunts the woods. The untried ruler is coming into his own in 1661, and Louise XIV must face what he is willing to sacrifice for honor and for love.

The author of the internationally acclaimed Josephine Bonaparte trilogy returns with another irresistible historical novel, this one based on the life of Louise de la Vallière, who—against all odds—became one of the most mysterious consorts of France's Louis XIV, the charismatic Sun King.
Set against the magnificent decadence of the 17th century court of the Sun King, Mistress of the Sun begins when an eccentric...

"Versailles, 1682: a city of the rich, a living fairy-tale, Louis XIV's fever dream. It's a place of opulence, beauty, and power. But strip back the lavish exterior of polite society, and you'll find a dark undercurrent of sexual intrigue and vicious gossip. Nobody is safe here - no matter how highly born they are. No one knows this better than Madame Marie d'Aulnoy. Each week, a rogue group of intellectuals gather at her Parisian home to debate,...

An intrigue involving the election of class president reminds Wishbone of the twin brother of King Louis XIV of France who must decide if he should risk everything to escape his iron mask and trade it for the king's crown.