The modern fairies

Why don’t they tell you it is the beautiful princess who becomes the evil queen; that they are just the same person at different points in their story? Versailles, 1682: a city of the rich, a living fairy-tale, Louis XIV’s fever dream. It’s a place of opulence, beauty, and power. But strip back the lavish exterior of polite society, and you’ll find a dark undercurrent of sexual intrigue and vicious gossip. Nobody is safe here – no matter how highly born they are. No one knows this better than Madame Marie d’Aulnoy. Each week, a rogue group of intellectuals gather at her Parisian home to debate, flirt and perform Contes de Fees – fairy tales – that challenge the status quo, at a salon that will change the course of literature forever.