The Princess of Montpensier (novella)
The Princess of Montpensier is a short story or novella by Madame de La Fayette, published anonymously in 1662. It is the story of adulterous love affairs where the heroine falls in love with someone other than her husband. It is considered a classic work of French literature and was adapted for film in 2010 under the same title.
It is possible the author knew the people who inspired the novella's events and that it is a record of real events, but to avoid being criticised for writing a roman a clef she transposed the characters and plot of an intrigue that occurred in the court of Louis XIV of France into the era of Catherine de Médicis and the house of Valois. Although her characters come from the French nobility, few of them directly correspond to historical persons.