The Sisters of Versailles by Sally Christie

 Louis XV of France (1710-1774) is known as Louis the Beloved by the people, but historians generally give his reign low marks as wars drained the treasury and set the stage for government collapse and French Revolution.

This book brings his love liaisons with Nesle sisters, followed by the famous Madame de Pompadour (Book II).

It all began in 1729. Louise is the eldest sister. She marries her cousin Louis-Alexandre. While he fulfills his duties with his regiment, she moves to a house belonging to her husband in a village outside Paris. The old house is unwelcoming as people serving in it.

Her mother passes suddenly. Her sorrow is also her fortune. The death of her mother means her position at Court is secured upon her.

Two older sisters, Pauline and Diane enter a convent on the outskirts of Paris. And two youngest sisters, Hortense and Marie-Anne are sent to live with Tante Mazarian. 

The life at Court is very insightful and colorful. Louise learns things about her mother and father she was unaware of during her innocent life. But it’s not all about gossip, the fashion is as important. “If one wears a dress too often, friends will remind you that you are not in the provinces and they claim that seeing the same garment too often affronts their eyes and may even cause blindness.”

At first, she insists on remaining chaste, but not able to resist her friends’ urgings, she caves in to the most handsome man at Court.

The King’s interest in his pious wife is fading. Cardinal Fleury is on a search for the king’s next mistress. Someone he can trust and someone who has no political interest to meddle with his power.

Meanwhile, Pauline has been writing to Louise to invite her to Versailles. Now, seeing it to her advantage, Louise invites Pauline. But what she doesn’t know is that Pauline vowed a revenge on her sister.

Through this story we don’t get to know the King himself that well or his politics, but what the story offers are richly imagined characters of five sisters, each unique; vividly presented Court and its people and their ignorance and oblivion to the suffering of the poor. 

Written with skillful, insightful, and entertaining prose, making it an engrossing read. When Diane is told not to mind people at Versailles as they don’t know how to be kind since “something happens to them when they pass through the golden gates and enter the mirrored halls.”

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