A FOREST of Dean author has written a new book, biographing the life of an intriguing historical figure, Saint-Simon.

Roger Grounds, now based in Newnham-on-Severn, started his writing career as a journalist but later became an author of over a dozen books covering various subjects.

His latest work, Saint-Simon examines the life and memoirs of the eponymous historical figure, and is the only biography of him written in English.

Saint-Simon wrote his mémoires secretly, at night, knowing that if he were caught, it might cost him his life. He lived through one of the most dramatic periods of French history, and his mémoires bring vividly to life the last years of the once glorious Sun King and the scandalous regency of his debauched friend, the duke d’Orléans.

Saint-Simon’s aim was ‘to discover the interests, the vices, the virtues, the passions, the hatreds, the friendships, the motives, the intrigues, the actions both public and private’ of those at court.

The result is pages filled with human comedy of kings, mad dukes, scheming duchesses, godless bishops, saintly whores, rogues and scoundrels - all obsessed with status, sex and death.

You can find the book on Amazon or in book stores.

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