Book Title:  Courting the Sun: A Novel of Versailles

Series: n/a

Author:  Peggy Joque Williams

Publication Date:   May 9^th, 2024

Publisher:  Black Rose Writing

Pages:  389

Genre:  Historical Fiction

Any Triggers: Rape Scene, Spousal Abuse

Twitter Handle: @cathiedunn @MaryLSchmidt

Instagram Handles:  @peggyjoque @thecoffeepotbookclub

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Book Title and Author Name:

Courting the Sun: A Novel of Versailles

by Peggy Joque Williams

Audiobook narrated by Mallory Fuccella

Blurb:

“A rich journey through 17th century France in all its aspects—its bucolic countryside, the still-unmatched splendor of the court of Louis XIV, and the struggling French colony in Canada.”
~ Margaret George, New York Times bestselling author of Elizabeth I, The Autobiography of Henry VIII & The Memoirs of Cleopatra

France, 1670. On her sixteenth birthday, Sylvienne d’Aubert thinks her dream has come true. She holds in her hands an invitation from King Louis XIV to attend his royal court. However, her mother harbors a longtime secret she’s kept from both her daughter and the monarch, a secret that could upend Sylvienne’s life.

In Paris, Sylvienne is quickly swept up in the romance, opulence, and excitement of royal life. Assigned to serve King Louis’s favorite mistress, she is absorbed into the monarch’s most intimate circle. But the naïve country girl soon finds herself ill-prepared for the world of intrigue, illicit affairs, and power-mongering that takes place behind the shiny façade of Versailles.

This debut historical novel from Peggy Joque Williams captures the vibrancy and quandaries of 17th century life for a village girl seeking love and excitement during the dangerous reign of the Sun King.

When Angels Fly 

Paris, the City of Light

By Peggy Joque Williams

In Courting the Sun: A Novel of Versailles, Sylvienne d’Aubert, a teenager from the small town of Amiens, France is invited to Paris and to the court of King Louis XIV. She has never been to Paris before and is amazed when she and her chaperones arrive to see the city so lit-up and bustling even after dark.

As the sun began its late afternoon descent, my eyes grew heavy. I must have dozed because when I opened them again the road had become busy with traffic in both directions. Carriages and wagons trundled past peddlers with goods-laden wheelbarrows, men in military uniforms, families, the older children walking, the youngest in arms or riding on older boys’ backs. Soldiers on horseback kicked up dirt in the faces of those on foot. Clusters of cottages littered both sides of the road.

“Paris soon! The largest city in all of Europe,” Oncle said. “Easily a half million people.”

“How does anyone know how many people live in a place so large?” Tatie asked.

I smirked when my uncle scowled at having his source of knowledge questioned.

Before long we passed through city gates and down narrow, crowded streets set with paving stones. The sky grew darker. Tatie gripped my hand. It wasn’t safe to be out after dark in any city, much less one as large as Paris.

To my wonderment, however, men in royal raiment moved along the Parisian streets, lowering large glass lanterns from poles set every twenty paces or so. They lit the lanterns, then raised them back up. The thoroughfares glowed with a soft light. I had never encountered anything so magical.

My eyes teared up—but not from the beauty. Rather, from the stench of the Parisian air. At home in Amiens, I would wrinkle my nose each time I encountered the fetid smell of horse droppings or urine puddles. Here, however, to keep from gagging at the reek of open sewage, I had to push my face deep into the lavender nosegays Oncle purchased at a roadside stand. Was this the trade-off for having so many people living in one city?

Everywhere buildings, roads, and bridges were under construction. Despite the late hour, workmen bustled about shouting to one another. Draft horses pulled wagons full to the brim with lumber, cobblestones, and bricks, the clopping of their hooves competing with the clank of hammers against stone.

Our carriage came to a stop in front of a large, imposing edifice. Row upon row of windows framed by ornate cornices glowed with calm authority. The palace.

Paris is often called the City of Light. Some people mistakenly attribute the nomenclature to the Enlightenment period of the 18th century, when Paris became the intellectual hub of Europe. Others say the name began when Paris adopted gas lighting in the early 19th century. But in fact, the name “City of Light” came about because of one man in 1667. His name was Gabriel Nicholas de la Reynie. King Louis XIV appointed him to be the Lieutenant General of Paris, in effect, the chief of police.

Throughout the 1600s, Paris—then vying with London for the reputation of being the largest city in Europe—was dark, dirty, and full of menace. The people of the city dared not go out after sunset because thieves and murders lurked in the dark. Windows were shuttered, doors locked and barred.

All that changed when la Reynie was put in charge. Besides reorganizing the police force to be more efficient and more effective, la Reynie came up with a scheme to keep the city safer at night. With the king’s blessing, he invoked an ordinance by which candle-lit lanterns were to be hung at every intersection and along every thoroughfare. Within a year roughly 3,000 of these lamps were hung, lit every night at dusk. The lit-up streets helped reduce nighttime crime immensely because thieves and murderers could no longer easily hide from the police.

When Sylvienne first arrives in Paris in 1670, she is amazed at how modern this famous city is. In her eyes, the lights at night give Paris a special, magical feel. Later, when she gets to Versailles, the sights she encounters will be even more magical.

Image: Place de la Concorde

Attribution: © Jorge Royan / http://www.royan.com.ar

Buy Links:

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/mqk0r9

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/courting-the-sun-peggy-joque-williams/1144842024?ean=9781685134129

Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/a/96858/9781685134129

Black Rose Writing: https://www.blackrosewriting.com/historicaladventure/courtingthesun 

This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.

Author Bio:

Peggy Joque Williams is the author of Courting the Sun: A Novel of Versailles and co-author of two mystery novels, On the Road to Death’s Door and On the Road to Where the Bells Toll, written under the penname M. J. Williams. She is an alumnus of Michigan State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

A retired elementary school teacher and avid researcher, Peggy’s fascination with genealogy and her French-Canadian, European, and Native American ancestry inspires her historical fiction. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

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