After watching his gypsy parents executed by hanging for the alleged crime of sorcery, a young Joseph Balsamo is tortured mercilessly for the insolence of objecting to his parents' conviction. After a narrow escape from his captors, he vows revenge on the nobleman who sentenced his parents to death. Having honed his skills as a charmer through his teen years and into adulthood, Joseph now dons the name Cagliostro and becomes a famous sorcerer throughout...

France's beleaguered queen, Marie Antoinette, wrongly accused of uttering the infamous "Let them eat cake," was the subject of ridicule and curiosity even before her death; she has since been the object of debate and speculation and the fascination so often accorded tragic figures in history. Married in mere girlhood, this essentially lighthearted, privileged, but otherwise unremarkable child was thrust into an unparalleled time and place, and was...