En la más completa miseria, y abandonada por todos, Angélica deambula por las calles de París. Allí se encuentra con Nicolás, un amigo de su niñez y con él entrará a formar parte de la Corte de los Milagros, convirtiéndose para toda el “hampa” de la ciudad en la Marquesa de los ángeles.

Después de su experiencia en una cárcel, decide cambiar de vida: recoger a sus hijos y emprender su ascenso para conseguir lo que más ansía: Ir a la corte de Versalles.

BG-1

Firstly, if you didn't already read Book One, please do so now.

Still with me? To be fair, after the disturbing shambles of Book One I didn't plan to continue, but I found myself literally haunted by the story, so I not only had to re-assess what I'd read, I also had to find out what happened next. And indeed there is a sense in this second volume that when you reach the bottom, like our heroine, the only way to go is up. Angelique is somewhat changed since the events in Volume One. Where before she was merely obnoxious, here she is heartless and manipulative, which puts her on a level with the other characters. Where in conventional fiction virtue is rewarded and evil is punished, Golon turns this on its head. In 17th century Paris the good perish and the evil prosper.

That's not to say there's no fun to be had as Angelique claws her way back into polite society by any means necessary, which includes sleeping with every major male character. But it's a guilty pleasure, and at the end of the day isn't that the best kind? And if you enjoy the kind of emotional catharsis that comes from period melodrama this is a satisfying conclusion to the story. ( )

Tegen de achtergrond van het 17de eeuwse Frankrijk wordt het avontuurlijke leven beschreven van een meisje uit een verarmde adellijke familie dat na veel moeilijkheden en ontberingen aanzien weet te verwerven. Deel 1 van de Angélique-serie.

Na de terechtstelling van haar echtgenoot duikt Angélique met achterlating van haar kinderen onder in de Parijse onderwereld van de 17e eeuw. Deel 2 van de Angélique-serie