To celebrate the release of Mistress of the Sun, which tells the tale of Louise de la Vallière, consort to Louis XIV, France’s charismatic Sun King, novelist Sandra Gulland will model an elaborate seventeenth century-style gown, designed by Susan Dicks, as she engages in an on-stage conversation with Nathalie Atkinson of The National Post. — A This Is Not A Reading Series event presented by Pages Books & Magazines, HarperCollins Canada, and EYE WEEKLY.

Gladstone Hotel Ballroom, 1214 Queen St W, Toronto
Tues, Mar 4; 7:30pm (doors 7pm) free

MISTRESS OF THE SUN is based on the life of Louise de la Vallière, an extraordinary young horsewoman who became one of the most mysterious consorts of France’s King Louis XIV, the charismatic Sun King. Sandra Gulland sets her long-awaited novel against the exquisite decadence of the French courts during the 17th century. When we meet the character of Louise, she is a good-natured girl who is deeply in love with a wild white stallion. Her desperate decision to use ancient magic to tame the beast seems to cast a tragic pall over the rest of her life. Being too poor to join a convent, Louise enters the court of the Sun King as a maid of honour, where she captures—and then tragically loses—the King’s heart.

SANDRA GULLAND is an acclaimed novelist. She is the author of a trilogy of novels based on the life of Josephine Bonaparte: The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B; Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe, and The Last Great Dance on Earth. All three were international bestsellers and have been translated into seven languages.

NATHALIE ATKINSON is a regular contributor to The National Post and to Globe Books, as well as to magazines such as Spacing, Chatelaine and ELLE Canada, on matters sartorial, literary and cultural. Her work has also appeared in Toronto Life, House & Home and Salon. She has interviewed such personalities as Hilary Duff, Olivia Newton-John and Elle MacPherson.

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