The Orange Trees of Versailles - Hardcover

Pietri, Annie

3.82

729 ratings by Goodreads

9780385731034: The Orange Trees of Versailles

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385731035 ISBN 13: 9780385731034

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2004

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When Marion Dutilleul enters the service of the Marquise de Montespan, she never imagines that her ability to recognize scents and to blend them into perfumes will win her the favor of Louis XIV’s mistress. But the marquise quickly has the young girl creating new perfumes for her. Eager to please and hopeful that her olfactory gifts will win her recognition, Marion concocts memorable fragrances. Then, to her horror, credit is bestowed on someone else. Marion feels betrayed.

Now Marion opens her eyes and ears (in addition to her nose!) and realizes that beneath the splendor of palace life is a place teeming with deceit. To survive, she must use her keen sense of smell not to create perfumes, but to thwart those who would do her—and one of France’s beloved monarchs—great harm.

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About the Author:

Annie Pietri has published several novels in her native France.

From Booklist:

Gr. 4-6. In translation from the French, this slim historical novel is set in Versailles, amid the opulence and romantic intrigue of the late-seventeenth-century court of Louis XIV. Its 13-year-old protagonist, a commoner named Marion, possesses an unusually keen sense of smell and a knack for mixing perfumes. After the vain, scheming Marquise de Montespan, the king's paramour, hires Marion as a maidservant and unofficial perfumer, Marion sniffs out something far less pleasing than eau de toilette: a murderous plot to poison the marquise's rivals. The fablelike quality of the storytelling takes some getting used to, but readers will soon find themselves caught up in the excitement as humble Marion applies both talents and smarts to avert disaster. Apparently there really was a "Poison Affair" implicating the marquise, a historical figure, although young American readers may come away confused by the epilogue's somewhat coy mix of fact and fiction. More successful is the intriguing author's note discussing the sociology and science of perfume. Jennifer Mattson
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