Based on the true story of Jacques Coeur, The Dream Maker recounts the life and times of a Steve Jobs of the Middle Ages. Born to a modest fur trader, Coeur rose to become the King of France's visionary First Banker who, with his tours of the Far East, his criticism of the Crusades, and his efforts to develop trade, contributed to bringing France out of darkness toward the Renaissance and modernity. Coeur was, at one time, the wealthiest man in France, but at the height of his success, disgrace and imprisonment at the hands of his enemies threatened. His ill-considered infatuation with Agnès Sorel, King Charles VII's favorite mistress, and her mysterious and premature death, precipitated Coeur's fall from grace. In Rufin's delicious prose this remarkable true story becomes a gripping tale of adventure, a novel of ideas, and a moving love story.