The Kings’ Mistresses: The Liberated Lives of Marie Mancini, Princess Colonna, and Her Sister, Hortense, Duchess Mazarin

After the death of their father, a Roman aristocrat, Marie and Hortense Mancini were brought to the French court by their maternal uncle Cardinal Mazarin, Louis XIV’s ruthless prime minister, to marry advantageously. Spirited and independent-minded, their escapades eventually became fodder for news gazettes, and they were among the first women to openly publish their memoirs. A besotted young Sun King wanted to marry Marie, but Mazarin planned a Spanish alliance for Louis, so Marie was married to an Italian prince. Despite a glittering public life, Marie fled a husband she feared was going to kill her, leaving three young sons and her marital disputes became an international scandal. Cardinal Mazarin rejected exiled Charles II’s marriage proposal to Hortense. She too, married to a fanatically devout and possessive French nobleman, ran away from her spouse, leaving four young children behind. Hortense eventually went to England, becoming Charles’s mistress, establishing a salon, and becoming a famous gambler. Despite a misleading title—Boston University French professor Goldsmith doesn’t offer evidence to disprove other historians’ contention that Marie never became Louis XIV’s mistress—this is an atmospheric, absorbing tale of 17th-century female media stars taking charge of their own lives. Map. Agent, Erika Storella, Gernert Company. (Apr.)