The Confessions of Catherine de Medici (58 page)
The scent of musk crept past me. I heard water everywhere, a constant murmur as it flowed through rivulets carved in the marble floors, emptying into alabaster pools, set to dance in the patio fountains.
I paused. A sigh shifted through the pilasters, stirring the hair of my nape. Catalina whispered, “
Hermana
, what is it? What do you hear?”
I shook my head. I could not explain.
Who would have believed me if I said I could hear the Moor’s lament?
.
Comment
.
Connect
.
Visit our online book club community at
www.randomhousereaderscircle.com
Meet fellow book lovers and discuss what you’re reading.
Post reviews of books, ask—and answer—thought-provoking questions, or give and receive book club ideas.
Find an author on tour, visit our author blog, or invite one of our 150 available authors to chat with your group on the phone.
Also visit our site for discussion questions, excerpts, author interviews, videos, free books, news on the latest releases, and more.
| Books are better with buddies . www.RandomHouseReadersCircle.com |  |
THE RANDOM HOUSE
PUBLISHING GROUP
The Confessions of Catherine de Medici
is a work of historical fiction. Apart from the well-known actual people, events, and locales that figure in the narrative, all names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to current events or locales, or to living persons, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2010 by C. W. Gortner
Reading group guide copyright © 2011 by Random House, Inc.
Excerpt from
The Last Queen
copyright © 2006, 2008 by Christopher Willis Gortner
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
B
ALLANTINE
and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Random House Reader’s Circle and Design is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gortner, C. W.
The confessions of Catherine de Medici : a novel / C. W. Gortner.
p. cm.
This book contains an excerpt from
The Last Queen
by C.W. Gortner, originally published by Two Bridges Press, Berkeley, CA, in 2006 and in different form by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., in 2008.
eISBN: 978-0-345-52194-1
1. Catherine de Médicis, Queen, consort of Henry II, King of France, 1519–1589—Fiction. 2. Queens—France—Fiction. 3. France—History—16th century—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3607.O78C66 2010
813′.6—dc22 2010009363
Cover design: Victoria Allen. Cover photograph: Peer Lindgreen.
v3.0