Louise de la Valliere is the middle section of The Vicomte de Bragelonne, or, Ten Years After. Against a tender love story, Dumas continues the suspense which began with The Vicomte de Bragelonne and will end with The Man in the Iron Mask. Set during the reign of Louis XIV and filled with behind-the-scenes intrigue, the novel brings the aging Musketeers and d'Artagnan out of retirement to face an impending crisis within the royal court of France. This new edition of the classic English translation is richly annotated and places Dumas's invigorating tale in its historical and cultural context.My thoughtRaoul has persuaded his father, Athos, to ask King Louis XIV to grant permission for him to marry his childhood sweetheart, Louise de la Valliere. However, the King, perceiving Athos' reluctance at the match, does no forbid the marriage, but instead says it must be deferred. Meanwhile, also at the palace, D'Artagnan apologises to de Wardes for killing his father in front of witnesses, but also dresses de Wardes down for continually insulting others. Buckingham, who is about to leave for England, having been asked by Anne of Austria to depart, takes advantage of de Wardes humiliated anger to challenge him to a dual. They dual on the sands at Calais, and Buckingham is the victor, seriously wounding de Wardes, although he ensures de Wardes receives medical care before returning to England.Aramis visits la Bastille to talk with the governor, Baisemeaux who is having financial difficulties due to his kind-hearted treatment of the prisoners. Aramis visits a mysterious prisoner whose name and origins are unknown. The man is in prison for his striking resemblance to the king.Madame de Belliere finally acknowledges her love for Fouquet, who is also experiencing financial difficulties. Coulbert is plotting to overtake Fouquet as minister of finance by ruining him through large requests for money for the king. Madame de Belliere sells many of her jewellery and ornaments to raise money so that Fouquet is not humiliated by being unable to finance the kings planned festivities at Fontainebleu.At court, Phillipe's new wife Henrietta is making him jealous again, this time due to her flirtations with de Guiche. Anne of Austria asks the king to intercede with Henrietta who she fears is a coquette. The king goes to Henrietta's apartments, planning to admonish her, but instead finds himself taken in by her charms, and falls in love with her himself, an affection which Henrietta returns. Fearing that Phillipe's jealousy will make problems for them, the two lovers decide that Louis should act as though he is in love with one of the maids of honour to put his brother off the scent. Henrietta selects Louise for this role.A ballet is performed by the court, where Henrietta and Louis are the stars of the show. De Guiche is devestated that Henrietta has transferred her affections to the king. Montalais, Louise and Athenais have a conversation about love under a tree in the park. They believe they are alone. Montalais declares her love for Malicorne, Athenais her preference for Saint-Aignan, and Louise delcares innocently and vehemently that she has been in love with the king since she first set eyes on him. Unbeknownst to the three maids of honour, the king and Saint-Aignan are listening behind a bush.When the girls find out that they were overheard Louise faints and is revived by the king, who is trying to act like he is interested in her. However, in the process of caring for her, he finds himself feeling more attached to her innocence than to Henrietta's coquettry. Henrietta becomes worried as she suspects that Louis may have fallen for Louise after hearing her declare her love. She humiliates the king and Saint-Aignan by telling them that the three maids of honour knew they were overheard and had made a joke of the two men by saying what they thought would please their vanity most. Louise is unhappy to lie, but is forced to do so by Henrietta. She requests an audience from the king to explain herself. Initially he does not believe she was sincere in her declaration of love for him, but her vehemence to the point of fainting with shame convinces him, and he tells her that he loves her too. At this point, Raoul has been sent away by the king to deliver a message in England.Meanwhile, Aramis has been made the director general of the Jesuits, putting him in a position of extreme power and influence. He half-shares some of his plans with Fouquet which focus on the mysterious prisoner, and replacing Louis IX and Coulbert with a king who is more disposed to Fouquet, whose ideals of freedom and chivalry are more inline with Aramis' views.This is more of a summary for myself than a review. I can now see why Dumas is known as writer of historical romance. This is pure romance. The musketeers rarely appear and the entire story is Louis XIV's very chaste courtship of Louise. She faints a lot, not a very interesting heroine. Raoul Vicomte de Bragelonne is in love with her so also story of unrequited love. The most feisty female characters are "Madame", Louis' sister-lin-law and Charles II's sister, they also share the same great/grandfather (I'm not sure) Henri IV of France and friend of Louise, Montalais. There are 2 characters called Manicamp and Malicorne, Madame is sometimes the Duchess of Orleans and I found the Le Fouqet bits quite confusing but Man in the Iron Mask follows straight on and its introduction explains it. This will feature Porthos a great deal. D'Artagnan and Aramis have bit parts in Louise. Lovely writing again, court intrique/love affairs just not enough musketeers.
From an action/adventure/humor point of view, this entry to the D'Artagnan romances is the low point. Romance takes the center point, with all the flirting, gasping, sweating, fainting, plotting, counter-plotting and fluttering-about that a court of puffed-up nobles and ladies performs so perfectly. And perfectly annoying, if you’re not into that sort of thing. I recall being somewhat but not greatly impressed by the shenanigans going on at this stage in the books some 10 years ago when I was the same age as the mademoiselles at the French Court but now, at an age more ripe, it was pretty hard to stomach.Throughout the books, there have been numerous times when I wanted to reach into the story and bash together the heads of fellows like Buckingham, De Guiche, Raoul (him especially) and even that effing idiot, the king himself. My only consolation sprang from researching the historical counterpart of my favorite character, the Compte de Guiche. That is to say Armand de Gramont, who apparently was a first class philanderer and amateur of both sexes and therefore can’t have been the immense sucker his novel representation was. That said, Louise de La Valliere, who names the second partition of this huge novel in the same way that the Vicomte de Bragelonne names the first (i.e. by being more or less off-screen), I cannot to this day fathom why she became an object of such fascination. Unless I am supposed to be impressed by the transition from little saint to the mistress of a married man and the eye of the biggest scandal in the kingdom, while somehow maintaining the conduct of the most innocent and noble of hearts. Please… Even in the midst of all the exaggerated affairs of the heart happening around her, this character and her credibility leaves much to be desired. Not unlike the woman herself.Thankfully, the tale in this book is interspersed with bits of clever and suspicious D’Artagnan, clueless, gentle-giant Porthos and the ever-inspiring, plotting, brilliant Aramis. And some serious business regarding finance, politics, affairs of state, etc.
What do You think about Louise De La Vallière (1998)?
I LOVE this particular portion of the D'Artagnan Romances. I love Athos. I love Dumas pere for creating and writing such a perfect example of honorable and noble character (Athos). I have loved each and every one of the pieces of this series, but I find myself completely and utterly overjoyed with the last few chapters of Louise de La Valliere. It is honestly my wish that every young man (and young woman, too, for that matter) should read this book to discover what constitutes a true hero (Athos; and also Raoul) and a true friend (D'Artagnan). What a beautiful lesson to be presented in the midst of such chaos, deceit and overly-ambitious pride.
—Deborah
Louise de La Valliere is not a bad story in of itself, but when held up against the rest of the saga, its weaknesses show. Still well written and full of compelling characters, the story focuses mainly on Louis XIV and his burgeoning love affair with the title character, who is a maid of honor for Louis's sister-in-law. The majority of this novel reads a bit like a Shakespearean romantic comedy, with couples coming and going in the woods, and overhearing each other, and all sorts of contrivances to see one another. The scenes were beautifully painted and the characters brought to life, but the story itself just isn't as compelling.That said, Dumas does not wholesale abandon D'Artagnan, Bragelonne, or the retired Musketeers. They are all becoming wrapped much deeper in intrigue and plans, with Aramis taking a lead that was almost unexpected. The whole story ends on an emotional cliffhanger, leaving the reader with a need to jump straight into The Man in the Iron Mask in order to find out how it all ends.
—Tom
An excess of melodrama. Sighing. Fainting. Raging. Perspiring (I know what you think I mean, but no. Only in vexation, anger or fear). Riding horses to death. Star-crossed lovers. Ill-fated lovers. Trap-doors. Witchy women. Brave men. Fair damsels. All in a PG format. Didn't enjoy this one even 1/2 as much as the others. Probably because of the subject matter, which is that the King is in love with the Vicomte's affianced. Said King sends Vicomte to England to get him out of the way. Said King (who is married, by the by) does his very best and succeeds in seducing fair maiden. Leaving Vicomte, of course, in a sighing, near-fainting, raging, perspiring mess. In the world of the 17th century it seemed that if one was of consequence enough to be made to marry for policy, one was then left to look for love everywhere else but home--and that was accepted, expected and, well, accepted. Nobody blinked an eye. But it was fun to talk about it. When one is heavily over-dressed and abysmally under-occupied gossiping takes on a whole new occupation.
—K.
