The Shadow Queen

1660, Paris. As the daughter of itinerant actors who once lit up the Parisian stages, Claudette always thought her future lay in the theater. But a series of chance encounters pull Claudette into the alluring orbit of the most beautiful woman in all of France, Athenais de Montespan, the unofficial mistress to Louis XIV and reigning "Shadow Queen." Impetuous by nature, Athenais wields a disconcerting amount of power in court--a fact that has ruffled many of the Sun King's key advisors. Athenais hires Claudette on as a personal attendant and the young stagehand leaves the world of theater only to find that court is very much like a stage, with outward shows of loyalty masking more devious intentions. This parallel is not lost on Athenais, who fears political enemies are plotting her ruin while young courtesans are scheming to take her place in the king's bed. Indeed, Claudette's supposedly respectable position is marked by spying, rumormongering, illicit trysts and titanic...