The Mirror Makers

"In the tradition of Restoration and Tulip Fever, Clare Colvin takes a historical theme in a novel about the secret process of mirror-making and the court of Louis XIV." "The Sun King, at the height of his power and ambition, dreams of constructing a great Hall of Mirrors at the palace of Versailles, to reflect his glory. But the only craftsmen who know the secret of the mirrors are in Murano, jealously guarded by the Venetian Republic." "The King's controller of finances, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, launches a campaign of industrial espionage to steal the knowledge for the profit of France. The promise of riches, adventure, a new life, entices Andrea Allegri to join a renegade group of mirror makers and risk not only his father's wrath, but severe punishment by the Venetian authorities." "Once in the Sun King's Court, Andrea finds himself in a world where image is all, and nothing is as it seems. He is caught up, not only with palace politics, but with the beautiful and demanding Athenais de Montespan, who exerts her influence over the King by dangerous means, as well as by her maid, enigmatic Mademoiselle des Oeillets. Against the background of the building of Versailles, as it evolves from hunting lodge to palace of monumental grandeur, the characters play out their roles of love and deception, in thrall to the charisma of the monarch with absolute power."--BOOK JACKET.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Fiction, Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.