This wonderful
novel by celebrated author Sandra Gulland of The Josephine Trilogy
tells the complex tale of the early years of the life of Claude des
Oeillets. This is a great novel which I enjoyed reading.
Claude des
Oeillets was a personal assistant to Madame de Montespan during the
early years of the court of Louis XIV in France in the 17th
century.
Claude was from
an acting family and it is this aspect of the novel which appeals
i.e. the travels and also travails of an acting troupe during these
early years in France.
The Great
Corneille, writer and playwright was an inspiration to these theatre
people whose livelihoods often depended upon patronage and
performances given on the stage at courts or various centres in the
surrounding countryside.
Claude des
Oeillets seems to me to have been an enigma and she also appears as a
character in the novel
Of Athenais, The
Real Queen of France by Lisa Hilton as a servant of Madame de
Montespan.
I enjoyed reading
the novel. It gives wonderful insights into another era and time
where life was so different from today’s world and the king was
the supreme power in the land.
The story is told
from the viewpoint of Claude and how she reacts to adverse situations
in her life, the hardships and troubles of her family and also from
the time of her first meeting with Madame de Montespan who came from
a more privileged background. Apparently in earlier more prosperous
times her mother and father had been well received on the stage and
well regarded as performers in their day.
The story tells
of the wonderful side of court life and its beauty and grandeur but
also unfortunately also shows a side of court life which is not
respectable or acceptable and Claude has to make decisions about her
life and face consequences because of earlier decisions which she has
made. Ultimately Claude decides where her true loyalties lie and
what is the better course for her and her child.
The novel is a
triumph of great story-telling. In the end Claude makes a decision
which she feels she can live with. She decides to leave the employ
of Madame de Montespan. The life at court was not all is seemed and
because of the values which she was brought up with she could no
longer continue to live a life which was not in keeping with her own
moral code.
This book is
wonderful and gives a good account of what may have occurred during
the Affair of the Poisons at the Court of Louis XIV where so many
people were named and also banished from court.
“The Shadow
Queen” is an excellent historical fiction novel and the adventures
of Claude des Oeillets in the employ of Madame de Montespan are
fascinating to follow. The court life and its many complexities are
seen throughout in this novel from what Claude des Oeillets could see
and gather from her own information. It is very good.
