The Rose of Versailles

Set against an era of rigid class divides and mounting unrest, *The Rose of Versailles* follows the arrival of Austrian princess Marie Antoinette in France, sent to marry Crown Prince Louis XVI in a political union meant to secure an international alliance. Chafing at a life dictated by diplomacy, she enters the French court and meets Oscar François de Jarjayes, the formidable Commander of the Royal Guard assigned to her side.

Oscar’s own role is shaped by family expectation: raised as a boy to satisfy her father’s wish for an heir, she is trained to inherit the command and live publicly as a man. Admired by many yet privately conflicted, Oscar serves the young queen while wrestling with her identity—and as the suffering of the poor grows more visible, Marie Antoinette’s lavish spending and the nation’s deepening resentment become increasingly impossible for Oscar to overlook.