Crazy life

The facts of Francoise D'Aubigne's life are remarkable — born in a prison to a penniless traitor, murderer and lifelong n'er-do-well and his teenage bride; a child beggar on the streets of La Rochelle; eventually married to the poor and hideously deformed, but socially well-connected poet Paul Scarron; governess to the king's bastard children by his mistress Athenais, marquise de Montespan; finally, in middle age, the king's mistress and wife, as well as a pioneer of education for girls and a force for religious reform in Louis' court.