When republican revolution comes to the kingdom of Illyria, King Christian and Queen Frederique, their young son Zara, and a small retinue of the abandoned court escape to Paris. They set up home there in much reduced, but still elegant, circumstances. Christian is a devotee of pleasure, while Frederique is staunch in her desire to maintain not only royal standards, but their effort to regain their throne. Christian descends into Paris’ pleasure pits and seeks only passing joys, while Frederique determinedly schemes for restoration. Only now will the real import of their vividly contrasting personalities come into focus. Trapped in the arms of a deceptive mistress, badly in debt, and imperfectly committed, Christian is asked to lead a counter-revolution – with disastrous results. With all hope of restoration gone, can their marriage survive? Alphonse Daudet masterfully charts this course to disaster with lyric colour, bitter melancholy, and an undertow of passion. This fascinating exposure of the regal and the rotten was first published in 1879.
