Louise de la Vallière

by Alexandre Dumas

This is the third in a four part series of etexts from Project Gutenberg that make up the third book of Dumas' D'Artagnan Romances.

This book centers around Louis XIV's affair with Louise, who was betrothed to the Vicomte de Bragleonne, the namesake of the first installment in this series and the son of Athos, one of the "celebrated four" musketeers. All of our four friends are involved in the story in one way or another and, as usual, the biggest hero of them all is D'Artagnan, who is now firmly established as the Captain of the King's Musketeers.

Like Ten Years Later, which came before it, much of this book wallows in courtly intrigues but there is a little more action in this one and enough dastardly trickery to spice it up here and there. Still, much of this book, like the two before it, is concerned with carefully building toward the climax to come in the final installment: The Man in the Iron Mask.

One point of interest: I always knew that these books were rooted in history. D'Artagnan was actually a real person, as were most of the members of Louis' court. What I didn't know is that Louise de la Vallière was also a real person and that she really was Louis XIV's reluctant mistress; not just some character invented for the story. Naturally the story has been embellished considerably (and quite frankly the really juicy bits have been made G-rated) but I'm surprised by how much of it is based on fact.

The series is worth reading but the very first book (The Three Musketeers) is easily the best so far.