A good fictionizing of the life of Madame de Maintenon concentrates on the girl- into woman in all the strange turns of her fortune. A spirited following of the familiar events- marriage to Scarron, the growing importance of court and its intrigues, the eventual establishment of a girls' convent- leads to a sincerely offered view of a famous life. It is not averse to moral values and aware of human, if royal, weaknesses.