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2nd Nicolas Le Floch investigation - a sinister death at the opera reveals something rotten at the French court.
A tale of religious brotherhoods, corruption, romantic intrigue and political scheming at the court of Louis XIV. 'Keeps the reader guessing ... conspiracy theorists will love it' Historical Novel Society 1661 is a year of destiny for France and its young King, Louis XIV. Cardinal Mazarin, the Chief Minister who has governed throughout the King's early years, lies dying. As a fierce power struggle develops to succeed him, a religious brotherhood, guardian of a centuries-old secret, also sees its chance to influence events. Gabriel de Pontbriand, an aspiring actor employed as secretary to Molière, becomes unwittingly involved when documents stolen from Mazarin's palace fall into his hands. The coded papers will alter Gabriel's life for ever, and their explosive contents have the power to change the course of history for France and the Sun King himself.
Hell's Gate is an intense, powerful and thoroughly unnerving' [The Guardian] story of one man's journey to the underworld to bring back his son from the dead. 'An intense contemporary myth' The Irish Times What if death was not the end? A thrilling story of love, loss, revenge and redemption in Naples and beyond. When his son is killed by gangsters’ crossfire on his way to school, Neapolitan taxi driver Matteo is consumed by despair. But just when he feels life has lost all meaning, he encounters a man who claims the living can find ways into the afterlife. And legend says that there’s an entrance to the underworld beneath Naples. What if Matteo had a chance of bringing Pippo back from the dead?
Shortlisted for the Goncourt first novel award, Octavio's Journey is an epic fable about an extraordinary hero. 'Simply magical' Elle A compact but kaleidoscopic fable of Venezuela from a stunning new voice in the magical realism tradition. His body might have been hewn from a tree trunk; his heart would last for a hundred years. And, like a tree, he was one of those men who die standing up. A chance meeting in the local pharmacy transforms the life of lonely, illiterate Octavio. He begins reading lessons and finds love and happiness for the very first time. But Octavio's destiny lies elsewhere, as he will discover on a journey into the Venezuelan rainforest.
The arrival of a letter delayed by 33 years sparks off a quest that leads both on a nostalgic journey back to the 1980s and right to the heart of France today. Middle-aged doctor Alain Massoulier has received a life-changing letter – thirty-three years too late. Lost in the Paris postal system for decades, the letter from Polydor, dated 1983, offers a recording contract to The Holograms, in which Alain played lead guitar. Overcome by nostalgia, Alain is tempted to track down the members of the group. But in a world where everything and everyone has changed...where could his quest possibly take him?
A crime writer uses the modest advance on his latest novel to rent a house on the Normandy coast. There should be little to distract him from his work besides walks on the windswept beach, but as he begins to tell the tale of forty-something Louis – who, after dispatching his own mother, goes on to relieve others of their burdensome elderly relations – events in his own life begin to overlap with the work of his imagination.
Indexes the Times and its supplements.
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