Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #239319 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-24
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 416 pages

Siofra Pierse, IRISH TIMES
In LOVE AND LOUIS XIV, Antonia Fraser's expertise on women in history shines through, bringing a sympathetic warmth to her depiction of the Sun King's many love affairs, his vast sexual appetite and the sheer variety of female personalities in his intimate circle.'

Review
'bringing vividly to life the fairytale dazzle of the most splendid court in Western history..... lively and wholly absorbing.' (Matthew Dennison THE TIMES )

'Antonia Fraser long ago mastered the art of writing meticulous history so that it reads like an engrossing novel, and her latest offering is no exception.' (Virginia Rounding THE SUNDAY TIMES )

an impressively researched and crafted book' (Munro Price THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )

'no one writes about historical women as well as she does.' (Jennifer Selway DAILY EXPRESS )

'a wonderfully rounded portrait of the philandering king.... Fraser has evoked a world by exercising the gifts that make her one of the most brilliant biographers of our time: her scholarship and her great humanity. Precise details bring the past to life.' (Ruth Scurr THE DAILY TELEGRAPH )

'All the scandal and brilliance and bling of Louis and his ladies is shown in context - social, dynastic, political, religious - but depicted so deftly and vividly that you're there... This is an intriguing insight into the shifting roles of aristocratic women in 17th-century France.' (Ian Ramsey TATLER )

'entralling new biography...... her prose veers between the authoritative and the racey and makes excellent use of contemporary sources, creating the most enjoyable domestic biography of Louis since Nancy Mitford's The Sun King, 40 years ago.' (Michael Arditti THE DAILY MAIL )

'As she demonstrated in previous biographies of Charles II and Marie Antoniette, for esoteric detail, for marrying moments of grace and wit, no other historian is Fraser's equal.' (Tome Dewe Matthews THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY )

'Written with a rare combination of sympathy, erudition and high literary accomplishment, this book is a delight. It leaves no doubt as to why Antonia Fraser who, in another age, might well have been a star of Louis's court, is, instead, the reigning doyenne of British historians.' (John Adamson THE MAIL ON SUNDAY )

'Fraser's narrative is balanced, wise and entertaining. This is clearly the book she was born to write.' (Jonathan Keates LITERARY REVIEW )

'Painstakingly researched and dazzling in its details, this is a definitive portrait of a king, his women and their extraordinary times.' (SAINSBURYS MAGAZINE )

'Her delightful book supports the contemporary observation that 'court life provides the funniest scenes imaginable', but the scintillating narrative is underpinned by a serious theme, arising from the conflict between the king's sex drive and his search for salvation.' (Anne Somerset THE NEW STATESMAN )

'this lively and compelling book..... The result is a balanced, insightful and plausible exploration of the Sun King and his women.' (Nigel Aston THE TABLET )

'with warmth, humour and not a little gossipy relish, she draws us intimately into the psyche and mores of many ladies who moved, motivated and occasionially mastered the alpha male.' (Lucy Kilfoyle THE TRIBUNE )

'the result is a balance, insightful and plausible exploration of the Sun King and his women.' (Nigel Aston THE TABLET )

In LOVE AND LOUIS XIV, Antonia Fraser's expertise on women in history shines through, bringing a sympathetic warmth to her depiction of the Sun King's many love affairs, his vast sexual appetite and the sheer variety of female personalities in his intimate circle.' (Siofra Pierse IRISH TIMES )

Jennifer Selway, DAILY EXPRESS
'no one writes about historical women as well as he does.'

Customer Reviews

More Light On The Sun King
Another historical masterpiece from the author of `Mary Queen Of Scots', `Marie Antoinette The Journey' et al.
The book has at its centre the life of Louis XIV and the women who found themselves in his orbit.
Despite the allusions to romantic love in the title, there is a platonic element to the numerous biographies that Fraser intertwines with Louis', such as his mother and daughter-in-law.
The light shone on the Sun King is painted in delicate colours and there is little allusion to `goings on' outside his immediate court, such as the Edict of Nantes (a very significant event of his reign) and the wars with the Dutch and the `Grand Alliance' under Marlborough and Eugene. This is because it is a biography devoted to the emotional - dare we say it - human side of Louis.
One really can find little fault in any of Antonia Fraser's scholarly works, of which this is an elegant and insightful example.

Entertaining but not shallow - a better understanding of Louis XIV and his relationships
Antonia Fraser is one of the best writers of (popular) history and this book just proves why.

So many books have been written about Louis XIV and it seems nearly impossible to shed a new light on this most famous of all French kings. So it was a very pleasant surprise that Antonia Fraser did this.

She follows the relationships of the Louis XIV with females from birth to death: from the long-for heir to the French throne, boy king at the age of 4 years and 8 months, through the period when the Sun King dominated Europe to the period when France and his king were nearly going down under and the reign ended on a sad notion. Each period had a distinct female symbolizing that very period: Anne of Austria, the King's mother and regent, Maria Theresia, his Queen, Madame de La Valliere and Madame de Montespan, his most famous mistresses and la Marquise de Maintenon, his morganatique wife. Of course, there are more like la Princesse Palatine, the Duchess of Burgundy or the first Duchess of Orleans. It seems that the Sun King did a full circle - Anne of Austria and Madame la Marquise had much in common and might be described as the same kind of personality. It is very much appreciated that Antonia Fraser restores Louis XIV's Queen Consort to her rightful place. The Queen is often neglected as the king did and she was properly the most remote person in terms of personal affection, but her role was vital for his gloire. The Infanta of Spain was the most valuable princess and none other would have done for the King and she was the mother of the rightful heirs to the throne.

Antonia Fraser commands the rare gift of writing in an entertaining manner without becoming shallow or superficial. All in all a book one can only recommend. I enjoyed it immensely.

Another triumph for Fraser!
This book, a study of King Louis XIV of France and the women in his life, including his mother, Anne of Austria, his wife Marie-Therese of Spain, his two sisters-in-law, Henriette-Anne of England and Liselotte of the Palatinate, his granddaughter-in-law Adelaide of Savoy, and of course his mistresses, Louise de La Valliere, Francoise-Athenais de Montpesan, Angelique de Fontagues and Francoise d'Aubigne, Madame de Maintenon. Then there's the mistress who never was, Marie Mancini.

As ever, Fraser tells a wonderful story - this is history at it's best. One of her best skills as an author, in my opinion, is the way she treats her characters as human beings; she is sympathetic to Louis being biased. She doesn't overlook his faults, but she isn't pessimistic about him. The characters come alive spectacularly, even though it's a non-fiction book - by the end, we feel as though we know Louis, Liselotte, Adelaide and the others. The Sun King has always been a compelling characters - I'd highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to find out more not only about him, but about the women in his life!