Ar Queffelec, personnage de roman

15 novembre 2014. Demat deoc'h.

Cet article pour présenter le roman "the wolf's sun" de Karen Charbonneau.

The sieur ar Queffelec, a character in the historical novel, The Wolf's Sun, set in 17th Brittany, France, and Paris, France.

Le sieur ar Queffelec, personnage de ce roman historique, "The Wolf's Sun", se situe au 17ème siècle en Bretagne et à Paris, France

Plan de l'article:

1) L'auteur

2) Résumé du roman

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1) L'auteur:

Reared on a ranch in Idaho. Obtained a J.D. in 1978. Practiced law as an army JAG in the Washington, D.C. area. Lived in Wyoming and am now back on that ranch in Idaho. Who says you can't go home again.

Birth place: Spokane, WA USA, born on October 12, 1945.

My first novel, The Wolf's Sun, Intrigue in 17th Century France, was well-edited by my husband, a former publisher/editor of a university magazine, so I'm confident it reads well. My second novel, A Devil Singing Small, is loosely based on my mother's life with my schizophrenic father. When we write about our childhoods, we are often exorcising demons. I wrote this from the wife's perspective, so perhaps I was trying to exorcise my mother's demons. When she read it about 10 years ago, she said, "That's sure your dad, but it's not me." So, maybe I fictionalized it enough. It was about her, though.

Ses parents:

I believe that historical fiction should educate as well as entertain.  From my teens and into adulthood I read historical fiction, hoping the backgrounds and historic events were accurate.  I still carry the stories around in my head. 

Having been reared on a ranch close to nature, I delighted in writing about the peasant culture in Brittany in the 17th century with its myths and superstitions, having done in-depth research.  My second novel is about a woman who uses her love of nature and her life in the country for strength.

My legal training has helped me, I hope, to write logically and convey the thread of the story from its beginning to its end without confusion, but also to hold the jury's – I mean reader’s -- attention.

My first novel, The Wolf's Sun, Intrigue in 17th Century France, is available on Amazon Kindle, Nook, Lulu. If you don't have a Kindle, you can download the Kindle application at the book site and read the first few chapters free before you decide whether to pay $2.99 for the novel. It was well-edited by my husband, a former publisher/editor of a university magazine, so I'm confident it reads well. My second novel, A Devil Singing Small, is also on Kindle, with free chapters to read prior to commitment to purchase for $2.99. It is loosely based on my mother's life with my schizophrenic father. When we write about our childhoods, we are often exorcising demons. I wrote this from the wife's perspective, so perhaps I was trying to exorcise my mother's demons. When she read it about 10 years ago, she said, "That's sure your dad, but it's not me." So, maybe I fictionalized it enough. It was about her, though.

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2) Résumé du roman:

In this sweeping historical novel of 17th century France, the wrath and power of Louis XIV are felt all the way to Keltic Brittany near the Bay of the Dead.

Born into the peasant culture, a mixture of ancient pagan beliefs mixed with Catholicism, is the girl Anna, a bastard looking like no one in her parish - her mother would not tell who her father was. Taught the use of herbs by the women of her family, she also has the gift of healing - a power also attributed to French and English kings who were said to heal scrofula with their touch. This ability will cause one man, a physician, to attempt to use her for his own glorification, and another, a Jesuit, to work to send her to a fiery death.

But first, she is caught up in the Breton peasant rebellion of 1675, when a people rose up against the punishing taxes of the French king and local nobles after years of hunger and failed crops. It is the consequence of the violence and retribution by the French that set the wheels of her destiny in motion.

After learning first-hand about her healing touch, a young physician, Luc de St. Connec, purchases Anna her from her family and carries her to the chateau of a relative on the French border. To conceal his motive, he creates a new identity for her -- she is his cousin Anne de St. Nolf, stolen away by her peasant nurse as an infant and in need of being taught French and the graces that accompany her birthright. At the chateau she becomes the companion of Marie Angélique de Scoraille, the demoiselle Fontanges, destined to become Louis XIV's last and tragically short-lived mistress. But Anne has a secret Luc has yet to discover, which will change him from her exploiter to her protector.

Paris and the court of Monsieur, brother to the King, beckon. To gain an appointment at court, St. Connec abjures his Huguenot religion and embraces Catholicism, an act of conscience he will later regret as the King, edict by edict, suppresses the freedom to practice Protestantism in France. In Paris, St. Connec renews his friendship with the English diplomat and spy John Keyes, who he'd met in Brittany and knows of Anne's origin. Their friendship is challenged by their growing love for Anne, a love they deny to each other and to themselves.

In 1680, the Affair of Poisons takes Paris by storm, and during a three-year period many are tried as blasphemers and poisoners (with the implicit understanding that they are also witches). Many are burned at the stake. The poison investigations implicate the King's longtime mistress, Madame de Montespan, mother of five of his children. Assisted in conspiracy by the lieutenant-general of the Paris police, Louis XIV begins one of the great cover-ups of French history, determined that no word of La Montespan's possible involvement will leak out to make him an object of ridicule or to endanger her. Anne is implicated in the affair of poisons, endangering herself and the men who love her.

Researched and written over an eight-year period, the author commented. "I like to think that one can learn history from my novels, and enjoy a good yarn at the same time. Peasants weren't dullards. We're all descended from peasants if we go back far enough. Theirs was an oral culture, full of colorful language, practical knowledge, myth and superstition. The aristocracy of France wasn't above superstition itself."

This is a long story, so if you are a reader who likes to submerse yourself for days into a different time and place, observe historical figures in their proper milieu like a ghost at a banquet, and follow the destinies of charming, romantic, ambitious, but flawed characters during a time of French splendor and court intrigue, religious persecution, conspicuous consumption, assassination, torture and fiery executions, brandings and life sentences as galley slaves, you will enjoy this novel.

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