The child Jeanne Valois lost her family, her home, and her fortune to the greed of an influential aristocrat. Now grown into a proud young woman of rare beauty and exceptional wiles, she has gained entrance to the court of Louis XVI and exquisite, reviled queen Marie Antoinette through an expedient marriage, seeking restitution for what was stolen from her. But Jeanne de La Motte-Valois's entreaties have fallen on deaf royal ears, inflaming her desire for justice...and vengeance. In an era of excessive splendor, squalor, and cruelty, amid the myraid intrigues, both dangerous and erotic, that swirl around the powers of France, the brilliant stratagems of a woman wronged will eclipse all others -- as infamy, tragedy, and death loom in the shadows of a conspiracy that begins with a breathtaking vision of diamonds and gold...and ends with revolution.