Intrigue and romance in Louis’ reign

All three of Karlene Koen’s historical novels have had strong males. With her newest, “Before Versailles,” a man is not only a dynamic character but he’s also the protagonist.

That man is none other than the much studied, much analyzed, much mythologized King Louis XIV of France.

Koen’s novel, through its rich prose, emphatic plotting and vigorous character development, covers four months in the life of the young king; he is 22.

Louis has been married for a year to a Spanish princess and after the death of Cardinal Mazarin, the prime minister, the king attempts to control the affairs of state.

“And he says to all the other ministers, ‘I’m going to be my own chief adviser and you will run everything through me,’ ” the author said in a phone interview.

“He’s beginning to run the country when he discovers he’s not the most powerful man in the country. His finance minister is.”

The minister, Nicolas Fouquet, doesn’t hold the post for long. Louis has him arrested.

The book has a thriving romantic element. The married king falls in love with Henriette, his sister-in-law, and their affair propels him into a scandal that the Vatican cannot abide.

There’s another active female character in the novel, Louise, who’s enamored of the king.

“I try to be aware of the differences between men and women, and that he (Louis) comes across as masculine. That was an interesting challenge for me. What he faces in this period was just so interesting,” Koen said.

The book is set in 1661.

Koen drew an analogy between writing historical fiction with a diver in a swimming pool.

“The history is your diving board but the leap in the air and your descent into the water is your creativity and your story. They need to be as strong as that diving board,” she said.

Koen, who lives Houston, spent last summer revising the novel in Taos as a Helene Wurlitzer Foundation Fellow.

“They give you a casita in a meadow. Mrs. Wurlitzer bought 40 acres in town and it’s undeveloped,” she said. “The day I arrived all the apple trees in the meadow were blossoming. There were birds everywhere. It was just beautiful.”

Koen’s previous three best-selling novels were “Through a Glass Darkly,” “Face to Face” and “Dark Angels.”

After “Face to Face,” her second novel, was published, Koen said, she tried to write a Louis XIV story that had been percolating for a while, but couldn’t get it to go anywhere, couldn’t get the plot to move forward. So she returned to work as a magazine editor before coming back to the Sun King.

Karleen Koen discusses, signs “Before Versailles” at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 30, at Bookworks, 4022 Rio Grande NW.