Book Description

In 1756, Europe is ruled by women. One of the most powerful is Madame de Pompadour, legendary mistress of Louis XV. While searching for a way to displace the Favorite, Pompadour's mortal enemy, the Duchess de Lauraguais, stumbles upon a potential lover for Louis in the person of the sensual and talented Diane Vauclin, queen of the Paris stage. Lauraguais knows that the actress can match the Favorite's talents in the salons of Versailles, but can mount an even more formidable challenge to the king's fragile mistress on a field where she can no longer fight -- in the king's bed. In the doing, Lauraguais discovers other secrets that will assuage her anger at someone much closer to her heart. The handsome and gallant Alexandre Devereaux continues to reject her affections while remaining enthralled to the memory of a woman he believes long dead. But Devereaux ́s lost love turns out to be very much alive. The beautiful Diane is in actuality Jennet MacKenna, the woman Alexandre once loved enough to marry secretly in defiance of the king's interdiction, and who was then forced "to die" and begin a new existence in order to save herself. As Lauraguais's plot comes within a hair's breadth of succeeding, no one realizes that she has loosed other unanticipated consequences that will alter France and open the door to Revolution. At Daggers Drawn is a captivating story of ambition, intrigue and the madness of love denied told against the backdrop of the rugged shores of Canada and the gilded salons of Versailles. Also available for purchase online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Also Enjoy Daughter of France by Liz Forrest "Forrest amazes and delights from the very first paragraph . . . An absolute must-read for fans of French history and intrigue." Kirkus Discoveries. "Lively, vividly portrayed characters solidly grounded in place and time. The historical figures as well as the fictional are fully rounded human beings that make their mark on the events of the day and on the reader ́s memory. . . ." -- Sally Darling, narrator for Talking Books and Recorded Books. "Liz Forrest, like Thomas Carlyle, Alexander Dumas and Isaac Azimov before her, has fashioned irresistible fiction . . . A riveting read!" -- Chester Brigham, author of Gloucester ́s Bargain With the Sea and The Stream I Go A-Fishin ́ In.