Novelized version of the love story of Marie Mancini and Louis XIV, where the brilliance and excitement of France's golden age are given full sweep. It is a tragic story -- that of the young girl of eighteen who was the niece of Mazarin and who was transplanted to the court of Louis by her uncle as bait for the boy-king, which would ensure Mazarin's hold over him as chief regent. And of how they genuinely fell in love -- only to be separated because Anne of Austria, Turenne, and finally Mazarin feared Louis might marry her. A well known story, but a charming one, quite colorfully told.