London: 1673. With her family ruined by war, penniless thirteen-year-old Sarah Jennings is overjoyed to be chosen as a maid of honor at the bawdy Restoration court of Charles II. Her beauty stirs the desires of the jaded aristocrats, but Sarah wants a grander future for herself than that of a pampered mistress. As allies, she chooses John Churchill, a military hero whose ambition and passions match her own, and befriends the Lady Anne of York, a lonely royal princess who comes to trust Sarah over all others.

But Whitehall Palace is ripe with ever-shifting alliances and sexual scandal, and Sarah will need all her cleverness to succeed. Titles, power, and wealth are the prizes, while an idle whisper in the wrong ear can bring a cry of treason, and the executioner's axe. Will Sarah's loyalties -- and her dreams -- falter when a king is toppled from his throne, and a new queen crowned? And will she dare risk everything when her one true love is tested by a passionate, dangerous obsession?

Brimming with the intrigue and sensuality of one of history's most decadent courts, DUCHESS brings to vivid life the story of an unforgettable woman who determines her own destiny -- outspoken, outrageous, but most of all true to herself and her heart.

שם הספר
The King's Favorite: A Novel of Nell Gwyn and King Charles II
The French Mistress: A Novel of the Duchess of Portsmouth and King Charles II