Honore de Balzac

Catherine De' Medici Honore de Balzac

This novel offers a fresh look at Catherine de' Medici's life and an unbiased view of her motives as a power-broker, politician, wife and mother. The first and main part of the book is a narrative of an idealistic young Calvinist who eagerly participates in a dangerous scheme to gain access to Catherine with communications from the Prince de Conde's faction. The second part of the book is a few years later; Catherine's second son, Charles IX, is now king- an unhappy and unwell young man, ever distrustful of his mother and her poisons. The final short part is set at an aristocratic party in 1786. One of the guests claims to have seen and spoken with Catherine, where she explained her actions...