Set in Rotterdam, a young girl, newly orphaned, is employed as a lady's maid to Vrouw Gibbons, English-born wife of a wealthy merchant. Saskia is capable and hard-working, but it soon becomes apparent that her talent for the manufacture of beautifying face balms and other potions - a legacy from her mother - far exceeds her lowly status. She catches the eye of Grinling Gibbons, her employers' only son, an apprentice carver who is already acquiring a reputation for his craft, and of his English friend, Robert Harding.
Crown Historicals in the U.S.A have republished TO DANCE WITH KINGS in paperback and all the beauty and magnificence and terror that created the Palace of Versailles comes forth again from the pages. Once more Augustin Roussier changes the life of young Marguerite, whose descendants live out their lives against the sumptuousness of the great Palace until the outbreak of the French Revolution. The idea for the book came when my editor, newly returned from France, described the restoration of the Palace that was taking place.
"The King's bedroom is all red and gold," she exclaimed, "with ostrich feathers
soaring up from the canopy."
In that same instant I knew I had to write about those feathers! A week later my husband and I were on a flight to Paris. As it was December there were very few visitors in the Palace and we explored many of the vast rooms completely on our own, including the great golden Hall of Mirrors where winter sunshine was pouring through the windows and setting the chandeliers and all else sparkling with jewel colours. We spent day after day at the Palace, arriving when it opened and leaving when it closed. We also explored every part of the great park, coming across the secluded bowers where balls and evening suppers were held. We wandered paths where Marie Antoinette had played at being a milkmaid and stood by the grotto where she had been sitting when news came to her that the mob was marching on the Palace. All the time my story was beginning to form in my mind.
I had the perfect ending already, because some years earlier an elderly lady had told me of her great-great-grandmother's experience as a baby at the guillotine and so it was a true historical happening, never set in print before, that led to the closing of the story.
For those of my readers who have told me that they have worn out their copies of TO DANCE WITH KINGS through many re-readings and have searched in vain for replacements will now be able to put a new copy on their book shelves.
On a personal note I want to express my sincere thanks to all the readers who have sent me such kind messages, some of whom have been writing loyally to me throughout the years. Every kind comment is greatly appreciated. I am always pleased and delighted to know that my books are enjoyed, especially when I have opened the door to an historic period that is new to a reader.
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