Set in the over-scaled, decadent Versailles of Louis XIV, Memoirs of a Dwarf is the story of Hugues, an impoverished dwarf who maneuvers his way up into the very highest of court circles by clandestinely serving the needs of a mob of unscrupulous gamblers, of a priest notorious for saying black Masses at midnight, and—from under the gaming tables—of a number of sex-starved society women, including Louis's mistress.  Along the way, Hugues finally discovers the truth of his own identity, a revelation which is a political bombshell and which subjects him to a grisly turn.     The story combines historical events and characters—Louis, his mistresses, his outrageous brother Philippe, and many other baroque personalities—with fictitious ones. Hugues’s tale reaches its climax during the famous affaire des poisons, the sexual and political scandal that thundered through the royal court and threatened wholesale destruction. "A ribald twist on Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones , Paul Weidner’s Memoirs of a Dwarf: At the Sun King’s Court turns historical fiction on its head."—Brent Spencer, author of Are We Not Men? "Hugues narrates the book with a controlled, steady innocence that makes for brilliant irony and dark humor of the sort Mark Twain achieved with the guileless Huck in Huckleberry Finn ." —Fran Zell Terrace Books Terrace edition for sale only in Canada and the U.S. and its dependencies. "A ribald twist on Henry Fielding's Tom Jones, Paul Weidner's Memoirs of a Dwarf: At the Sun King's Court turns historical fiction on its head." Brent Spencer, author of Are We Not Men? "Hugues narrates the book with a controlled, steady innocence that makes for brilliant irony and dark humor of the sort Mark Twain achieved with the guileless Huck in Huckleberry Finn." Fran Zell Paul Weidner, formerly director for the Hartford Stage Company and of graduate programs for acting, design, and stage directing at the New York University School of the Arts, has directed more than forty productions. He also served in the Peace Corps in Africa. He currently divides his time between New York and Brittany, France. This is his first novel. Whosoever reads this testament:      This will be a faithful and most accurate accounting of my life, written in order that the truth be known at last, for up to now the truth has been gagged, and my entire existence, from birth to present, predicated on falsehood; and the truth shall now be revealed for justice’s sake, I vow, and by this hand; unless I die in the telling of it, for I am no longer young.—excerpt from Memoirs of a Dwarf