This fascinating, (mostly true) story is based on historical facts and weaves together the threads of greed, lust, honour and brutality at the dawn of the Industrial age.
The seventeenth century of Germany, France and England is a time for love — love of power and territory above all. Beautiful Eléonore is deeply in love with George William, heir of a German duchy, and he with her. But he hides a secret that makes a legal marriage impossible.
George William’s younger brother, Ernest, and his own bride must block George William’s marriage too. If George William never has any male heirs by a proper and legal marriage, then Ernest and his offspring will inherit George William’s lands and holdings. The brothers’ plots against each other are only the half of it. King Louis XIV of France has designs on German territory too and aims to take it by force.
The layered schemes of the upper crust make life treacherous for powerless offspring, especially young Sophia Dorothea, who must smother her heart’s yearnings and yield to the cold commands of her elders, but not without serious consequences to many.
A delightfully rare Historical Novel. 85% a biography of a spy, musician, mother and her neice trapped behind German lines in World War I. This background led to a diplomatic post in World War II. Aged 92, Vera disclosed her past life one year before
