The Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun, first published in 1668, describe a nun' s feelings of betrayal after a French officer seduces and abandons her.
Gabriel-Joseph de Lavergne, viscount of Guilleragues, was working in the service of the Louis XIV as a diplomat. Recent scholarship has identified Guilleragues as the author of these letters, it is generally believed today that the letters are a fictionalised account by Guilleragues himself, inspired by Letters of Abelard and Héloïse, and are not the actual love letters of Mariana Alcoforado. He kept his identity secret as author of the letters as protection, although many of his famous friends, such as Racine, knew.
