Court of Miracles: A Human Comedy of 17th Century France

by Brigitte Goldstein

Court of Miracles is a ripping romantic yarn of love and deception, lust and ambition, of friendship and betrayal, heroism and defeat, adversity and triumph that plays out against the background of a fascinating period of history when swordplay and tavern brawls are as commonplace as misuse of power and brigandage. It portrays the profligacy and arrogance of the nobility and the destitution and despair among the lowest of society, who often fall victim to exploitation not only from their social "betters," but from the criminal elements among them. This is a period when blood and pedigree counts for more than personal merit and decency, when people are expected to be content with the station into which they were born as the divinely ordained order of the world. Challenging all these assumptions, fate leads the protagonists through a riveting sequence of events along a treacherous path of ups and downs, of twists and turns, until they finally come to realize that, even if it is not in their power to change the order of things, what matters most in life is love and friendship.

363 pages, Paperback

First published February 14, 2007