The Orange Trees of Versailles - Softcover

Annie Pietri has published several novels in her native France.
From the Hardcover edition.

Gr. 4-6. In translation from the French, this slim historical novel is set in Versailles, amid the opulence and romantic intrigue of the late-seventeenth-century court of Louis XIV. Its 13-year-old protagonist, a commoner named Marion, possesses an unusually keen sense of smell and a knack for mixing perfumes. After the vain, scheming Marquise de Montespan, the king's paramour, hires Marion as a maidservant and unofficial perfumer, Marion sniffs out something far less pleasing than eau de toilette: a murderous plot to poison the marquise's rivals. The fablelike quality of the storytelling takes some getting used to, but readers will soon find themselves caught up in the excitement as humble Marion applies both talents and smarts to avert disaster. Apparently there really was a "Poison Affair" implicating the marquise, a historical figure, although young American readers may come away confused by the epilogue's somewhat coy mix of fact and fiction. More successful is the intriguing author's note discussing the sociology and science of perfume. Jennifer Mattson
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