pbInspired by Velzquezs baroque masterpiece iLas Meninasi iThe Queens Propheti is an imagined account of the dwarfess Maribarbola of Spain featured prominently in Velzquezs painting and her struggle for survival and selfdetermination at a time when dwarfs were kept by aristocracy as pets prophets and good luck charms.bppWhen the Countess of Walther dies at her German estate her loyal dwarfess MariaBarbara is forced to work as a prophet for a traveling magician who betrays her by selling her to the Queen of Spain. At the royal court in Madrid Mari finds herself in a bizarre enchanted world a society culturally splendid but intellectually isolated. There she becomes Maribarbola prophet to the Queen and her survival at stake endeavors to outsmart the Spaniards.ppMaris wits and loyalties are tested as she becomes embroiled in palace intrigue alongside the politically embattled Queen. When Maris carefully schemed prophecies dazzle all of Spain she and the Queen climb to dizzying heights of power a place as intoxicating as it is dangerous. But even as Mari survives and thrives at the Spanish court the loss of identity she suffers from living a lie makes her question whether she is really surviving at all.p