The Mirror Makers - Tapa dura

A splendid historical theme made into a novel about the ancient secret Venetian process of making mirrors. Louis XIV is building Versailles and dreams of constructing a great Hall of Mirrors, but the glass-makers are prisoners in Murano in the Venetian Republic. With promises of great riches, Louis' controller of finances, Colbert, entices a few individuals to France, including Sandro Allegri, who is disinherited by his father. Sandro becomes involved not only in palace politics, but also one of the king's mistresses. As with Janet Gleeson's non-fiction story about the invention of European porcelain, the Arcanum, it makes a wonderful tale about a little-known aspect of history. A truly remarkable read.

Louis XIV, at the height of his powers and grandiose ambitions, dreams of constructing a great Hall of Mirrors in the palace of Versailles. But the only craftsmen who know the secret are in Murano, prisoners of the Venetian Republic. The promise (via Louis XIV's controller of finances, Jean-Louis Colbert) of riches, adventure, a new life, prompts Sandro Allegri and a renegade group of mirror-makers, to risk not only his father's wrath but the severest punishment by the Venetian authorities. And, once in the Sun King's Court, Sandro finds himself caught up, not only with dangerous palace politics, but with one of the King's mistresses. Inventive, romantic and exciting, Clare Colvin's novel is a magical evocation of a glittering period of history.