Discover this bestselling classic from the author of The Gustav Sonata, charting Robert Merivel's rise and fall through glittering seventeenth-century society.


When a twist of fate delivers an ambitious young medical student to the court of King Charles II, he is suddenly thrust into a vibrant world of luxury and opulence. Blessed with a quick wit and sparkling charm, Robert Merivel rises quickly, soon finding favour with the King, and privileged with a position as 'paper groom' to the youngest of the King's mistresses.

But by falling in love with her, Merivel transgresses the one rule that will cast him out from his new-found paradise...

'A most beautiful and original novel' Independent

'Triumphant' Sunday Telegraph

'Dazzling' New York Review of Books

*Rose Tremain has sold over ONE MILLION books. Enter her vivid historical world*