About the book: 2019 / Rafael Sabatini's story "The Red Mask" was published in Ludgate magazine in December 1898. At the center of the story is Giulio Mazarin (1602–1661), born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino (Italian: Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino), in French Jules Mazarin, church and political leader and first minister of France in 1643–1651 and 1653–1661 years. If Cardinal Mazarin is familiar to you only from Alexandre Dumas’ novel “Twenty Years After,” then Sabatini will surprise you.