Clare Colvin — The Mirror Makers

Arrow Books Ltd 2004 Paperback, 288pp. Louis XIV, at the height of his powers and grandiose ambitions, dreams of constructing a great Hall of Mirrors in the palace of Versailles. But the only craftsmen who know the secret are in Murano, prisoners of the Venetian Republic. The promise (via Louis XIV's controller of finances, Jean-Louis Colbert) of riches, adventure, a new life, prompts Allegri and a renegade group of mirror-makers, to risk not only his father's wrath but the severest punishment by the Venetian authorities. In the Sun King's Court, a renegade mirror maker enticed from Venice, Andrea Allegri finds himself in a world where the image is all, and nothing is as it seems. He Quickly falls under the spell of the beautiful and demanding Athenais de Montespan, who exerts her influence over the King by dangerous means. Against the background of the building of the Palace of Versailles, the characters play out their roles of love and deception, in thrall to the charisma of the monarch with absolute power. Some foxing;. (ISBN: 9780099435068). Good.