The Myrtle Wand

by Margaret Porter

Overview

The Myrtle Wand, a retelling and a continuation of the classic ballet Giselle, restores original story elements to transform a tale of blighted romances and betrayals into a quest for redemption and restorative love.

Princess Bathilde de Sevreau, unlike her school friend Myrte and the peasant Giselle, doubts the existence of legendary vilis, ghostly maidens who rise from their graves by night to roam the forest to take revenge on faithless lovers. Until she, too, has cause to fear being ensnared by that spectral sisterhood . . .

Destined for a marriage of convenience with Albin, Duc de Rozel, Bathilde leaves her ancestral château for the Sun King's sophisticated and scandalous court. As participants in royal ceremonies and entertainments, the princess and the soldier gradually recognize deep feelings for each other and mutual hopes for marital contentment.

But the tragic consequences of Albin's brief masquerade as a commoner and the amorous Louis XIV's quest for a mistress divide the lovers. Together and separately, they must overcome conflicting duties and unexpected dangers to determine their fate.

"Audiences familiar with the general outline of Giselle will find Porter's narrative naturally engaging, but she's taken care to keep other readers involved as well . . . An absorbing and touching tale . . . a fully realized, moving portrait of the storied court of Louis XIV." -Kirkus Reviews

"Main characters are fictional, but powered by the real-world experiences of minor players . . . Readers are immersed in a world of court and commoner. A powerful story, highly recommended for its realistic quandaries and strong female characters."

-Midwest Book Review

"Lushly atmospheric . . . rich with historical detail. Porter imagines the story behind the iconic Giselle, transporting us to France during the early reign of the Sun King. Betrayal and redemption, magic and religion all cross paths in dangerous pas de deux-and Princess Bathilde finally gets her opportunity to take center stage." -Leslie Carroll, author of Royal Romances: Titillating Tales of Passion and Power in the Palaces of Europe

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798985673494
Publisher:	Gallica Press
Publication date:	10/11/2022
Pages:	376
Sales rank:	882,476
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.84(d)

About the Author

MARGARET PORTER is award-winning, bestselling author of The Myrtle Wand (October 2022), The Limits of Limelight (September 2021), Beautiful Invention: A Novel of Hedy Lamarr, and twelve other historical novels. After studying British history in the U.K., she worked professionally in theatre, film, and television. A historian and avid traveler, Margaret returns to Great Britain and Europe for research. She lives in New England with husband and dog, dividing her time between an architecturally unique book-filled house in a small city and a waterfront cottage on one of the region's largest lakes. More information is available at her website, www.margaretporter.com.

Editorial Reviews

2022-07-20
A historical novel set in 17th-century France focuses on the court of the Sun King.

Porter’s fictional elaboration on the celebrated ballet Giselle, with a libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Théophile Gautier, opens at the Ursuline convent school in Niort during the reign of King Louis XIV. There, readers meet little Princess Bathilde, her friend Myrte Vernier, and new arrival to the school Françoise d’Aubigne, who is dropped off one day by her haughty guardian, the Baronne de Neuillant. Françoise is welcomed by the school’s mother superior, who takes in girls left at Ursuline for all kinds of reasons (“Families thrust their girls into the convent to be rid of them, either because they’re too ill-featured to catch a husband, or have a small dowry, or after they’ve been orphaned”). The narrative follows Bathilde and Françoise as they grow older and find their places at the court of the king and his bride (and the scheming Cardinal Mazarin). Françoise goes from serving as the governess to the king’s illegitimate children (and affianced to the loathsome Paul Scarron, a writer constantly inviting scandal) to being the unofficial consort to the monarch himself. Bathilde engages in a romance with Albin Maurice Laurent Bertrand, the Marquis de Brénoville and Duc de Rozel. Audiences familiar with the general outline of Giselle will find Porter’s narrative naturally engaging, but she’s taken care to keep other readers involved as well. That said, she has a penchant for melodramatic writing, as in this passage about Bathilde: “This assurance sent a warm flow of pleasure and relief coursing from her head to her toes.” In addition, the author’s characters talk and think like holdovers from Sir Walter Scott’s novels, which 21st-century readers may find hard to accept. At one point, Wilfride Mensy, Albin’s manservant, squire, and cousin, muses about Bathilde, whom he adores: “His feelings for Princess Bathilde, he felt certain, would endure for his entire life, to his last day. And beyond, if human emotions survived in the afterlife.” Fortunately, Porter’s research and storytelling energy generally compensate for this, drawing readers into a fully realized, moving portrait of the storied court of Louis XIV.

An absorbing and touching tale about young women at the French royal court.

Kirkus Reviews