Mistakes are a fact of life. I at first really couldn't stand them. I'd say yeah. Withholding sex certainly worked for Elizabeth, but not for poor Nell. I suspect Nell's reasons were moral, but Elizabeth was holding out for that Power thing.
Mistakes are a fact of life.
It's French with English subtitles. The setting is the French court just prior to the Revolution. I do not think we can compare the two, as back then power shifted constantly and you had to be on the right side of the fence which was a tremendous balancing act. Again, without a democracy, life is very precarious and the rules keep changing. So far they are the high point of the book for me, I am up to the part where Anne goes into hiding and Richard has just found her.