Mademoiselle Marie-Rouge is blackmailed into becoming a spy in the name of keeping her gambling father out of prison. Pierre, a peasant miller who is not exactly what he seems, captures her heart along the way. However, Arsene has other plans. This historical romance perfectly encapsulates the decadence and lavishness of France and Versailles under the reign of Louis XIV.

Sylvia Halliday was born in Toronto, Canada and grew up in Massachusetts. She married a New Yorker and raised four children, while living the life of a typical suburban housewife---dabbling with gourmet cooking, sewing her own clothes, serving on PTA boards, etc. As the children grew, she found herself becoming restless. She and a friend decided to write a cookbook, but after a few months, they grew bored. As luck would have it, Sylvia had read a tabloid article just that morning, telling about a historical romance writer who was actually two housewives from New Jersey. Sylvia broached the idea to her friend. "I couldn't do it," said her friend, "but you're one of those melodramatic 'Ha! Thou lusty wench!' types!' "
Sylvia went home, sat down at the typewriter and "Marielle" (written as Ena Halliday, her grandmother's name) poured out, and no one was more surprised than she was! It took about two years, during which she wrote "Lysette", set up the premise of "Delphine" and found an agent, but the trilogy was ultimately sold to Pocket Books for their Tapestry line, and "Marielle" launched the line under her Ena Halliday pen name (see Amazon link to the name).
Sylvia has since written thirteen more books, all of which were published. The original trilogy, as well as four other books, (written as Louisa Rawlings, her great-grandmother's name---see Amazon link to that name) have just been republished in e-book format, under her Sylvia Halliday pen name. She also wrote for Harlequin, under the pen name of Louisa Rawlings.
Her books have been selected for awards from the Romance Writers of America and Romantic Times. And she's still melodramatic!

Louisa Rawlings' profile page

Susie Venable's profile page