Jean Plaidy - The Road to Compiegne (French Revolution Series Volume 2)

About the Book

No longer the well-beloved, Louis XV is becoming ever more unpopular the huge expense of his court and decades of costly warfare having taken their toll. As the discontent grows, Louis seeks refuge in his extravagances and his mistress, the powerful Marquise de Pompadour. Suspicions, plots and rivalry are rife as Louiss daughters and lovers jostle for his attention and their own standing at Court. Ignoring the unrest in Paris, Louis continues to indulge in frivolities. But how long will Paris stay silent when the death of the Marquise de Pompadour leads to yet another mistress influencing the King?

Praise for Jean Plaidy

Jean Plaidy, by the skilful blending of superb storytelling and meticulous attention to authenticity of detail and depth of characterisation has become one of the countrys most widely read novelists Sunday Times

It is hard to better Jean Plaidy Daily Mirror

This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

Version 1.0

Epub ISBN: 9781446411957

www.randomhouse.co.uk

Published by Arrow Books in 2007

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Copyright Jean Plaidy, 1957

Initial lettering copyright Stephen Raw, 2007

The Estate of Eleanor Hibbert has asserted its right to have Jean Plaidy identified as the author of this work.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

First published in the United Kingdom in 1957 by Robert Hale and Company
Published in paperback in 1972 by Pan Books Ltd

Arrow Books
The Random House Group Limited
20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 2SA

www.rbooks.co.uk

Addresses for companies within The Random House Group Limited can be found at: www.randomhouse.co.uk/offices.htm

The Random House Group Limited Reg. No. 954009

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 9780099493372

Contents

Praise for Jean Plaidy

A vivid impression of life at the Tudor Court

Daily Telegraph

One of the countrys most widely read novelists

Sunday Times

Plaidy excels at blending history with romance and drama

New York Times

It is hard to better Jean Plaidy... both elegant and exciting

Daily Mirror

Jean Plaidy conveys the texture of various patches of the
past with such rich complexity

Guardian

Plaidy has brought the past to life Times Literary Supplement

One of our best historical novelists News Chronicle

An excellent story Irish Press

Spirited... Plaidy paints the truth as she sees it

Birmingham Post

Sketched vividly and sympathetically... rewarding

Scotsman

Among the foremost of current historical novelists

Birmingham Mail

An accomplished novelist Glasgow Evening News

There can be no doubt of the authors gift for storytelling

Illustrated London News

Jean Plaidy has once again brought characters and
background vividly to life Everywoman

Well up to standard... fascinating

Manchester Evening News

Exciting and intelligent Truth Magazine

No frills and plenty of excitement Yorkshire Post

Meticulous attention to historical detail South Wales Argus

Colourful... imaginative and exciting

Northern Daily Telegraph

Effective and readable Sphere

A vivid picture of the crude and vigorous London of those
days Laurence Meynell

Jean Plaidy, one of the pre-eminent authors of historical fiction for most of the twentieth century, is the pen name of the prolific English author Eleanor Hibbert, also known as Victoria Holt. Jean Plaidys novels had sold more than 14 million copies worldwide by the time of her death in 1993.

For further information about Arrows Jean Plaidy reissues and mailing list, please visit

www.randomhouse.co.uk/minisites/jeanplaidy

Further titles available in Arrow by Jean Plaidy

The Tudors

Uneasy Lies the Head

Katharine, the Virgin

Widow

The Shadow of the

Pomegranate

The Kings Secret Matter

Murder Most Royal

St Thomass Eve

The Sixth Wife

The Thistle and the Rose

Mary Queen of France

Gay Lord Robert

Royal Road to Fotheringay

The Captive Queen of Scots

The Medici Trilogy

Madame Serpent

The Italian Woman

Queen Jezebel

The Plantagenets

The Plantagenet Prelude

The Revolt of the Eaglets

The Heart of the Lion

The Prince of Darkness

The French Revolution

Louis the Well-Beloved

The Road to Compigne

Flaunting, Extravagant

Queen

The Queen of Diamonds

Chapter I

THE ROAD

A ll through the hot days the people in the bustling city talked of the road. They joked about the road; they sneered at the road; they snapped their fingers at it and they hated it.

Because it was the habit of the people of Paris to sing songs about that which they particularly loved or loathed, they sang songs about the road.

When the bakers of Gonesse came into the city twice a week with their load of bread which they must sell to the citizens as they were not allowed to take it back beyond the Barrier - they discussed the road with the peasants who were making their way to Les Halles, that great circular space with six busy streets leading into it. Extolling the qualities of good bread, of fish, meat and vegetables, they found time to discuss the road. The coffee-women standing at the street corners, their urns on their backs, called: Caf au lait , two sous the cup. Caf au lait , with sugar, my friends! And while their customers stood by to drink from the earthenware cups, they would joke with the coffee-seller about the road.

The barbers, running frantically to keep their appointments, flourishing wigs and tongs, their clothes white with powder, called to each other the latest news of the road; the lawyers on their way to the Chtelet referred to it gravely; the clerks hurrying early to their work found time to whisper about it.

It was discussed by lords and ladies in their carriages, by the sweating passengers huddled together in the lumbering carrabas travelling back and forth between Paris and Versailles at the rate of about two miles an hour, and by those who, not being able to afford a carriage and despising the carrabas , must travel in those comic vehicles which Parisian humour had christened pots de chambre .