Behind The School of Mirrors
The School of Mirrors is set in 18th century Versailles (both palace and town) and Paris. To get a sense of the place, to walk in my characters' footsteps, I travelled to France in 2018
The Palace of Versailles was first on my list. It has, of course, been changing with time, but it was still possible to get a sense of being there during the reign of Louis XV.
Like all tourists I took the palace tour.
But, as much as I loved admiring the splendid interiors, I never forgot that my main characters were not part of the aristocracy. So, I paid attention to service doors, nooks meant for servants, or palace kitchens.
Getting glimpses of flat palace roofs, I found myself wondering how would a child get there to hide from nagging guardians and what would she find there? Stray cats, perhaps? Another lonely Versailles child?
The School of Mirrors
In the Versailles gardens, I peeked behind wooden lattice fences which wall off greenery from the manicured paths, for this is where I imagined a lonely child might have wanted to hide.
Writers make for VERY STRANGE TOURISTS!
The Palace of Versailles was first on my list. It has, of course, been changing with time, but it was still possible to get a sense of being there during the reign of Louis XV.
Like all tourists I took the palace tour.
But, as much as I loved admiring the splendid interiors, I never forgot that my main characters were not part of the aristocracy. So, I paid attention to service doors, nooks meant for servants, or palace kitchens.
Getting glimpses of flat palace roofs, I found myself wondering how would a child get there to hide from nagging guardians and what would she find there? Stray cats, perhaps? Another lonely Versailles child?
The School of Mirrors
In the Versailles gardens, I peeked behind wooden lattice fences which wall off greenery from the manicured paths, for this is where I imagined a lonely child might have wanted to hide.
Writers make for VERY STRANGE TOURISTS!
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Margarita
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Mar 02, 2022 12:03PM
Where you able to visit the services areas? Did you have access to secret passages?
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Margarita wrote: "Where you able to visit the services areas? Did you have access to secret passages?"Hi Margarita. I did not have any special access at Versailles but (thanks to some friendly help) I did get a glimpse of the servant corridors and the kitchens. I also wandered through the grounds looking for anything I could use in the novel. the fact Versailles roofs made me imagine Marie-Louise climb up there in search of solace and solitude and find the cats!
On the absence of stories...
Here is something of interest, a blog entry I have written for Canadian Book Shelf...
http://canadianbookshelf.com/Blog/201... ...more
http://canadianbookshelf.com/Blog/201... ...more
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