Historical Sagas

War and Peace is one of the greatest monuments in world literature. Set against the dramatic backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, it examines the relationship between the individual and the relentless march of history. Here are the universal themes of love and hate, ambition and despair, youth and age, expressed with a swirling vitality which makes the book as accessible today as it was when it was first published in 1869.

Lancashire, 1857. Liza, 17 ans, est employée au service des Pringle, un jeune couple qui la traite bien. Mais son père exige soudain qu'elle revienne vivre parmi les siens pour s'occuper de sa mère malade et de ses jeunes frère et sœur. Liza déchante, mais sa déception n'est rien comparée à la décision qu'a prise pour elle son père : elle épousera un veuf bien plus âgé qu'elle. Pour échapper aux avances pressantes de cet homme qui lui répugne, Liza s'enfuit.

Lubji Hoch escapes from the Nazis, moves to Berlin and changes his name to Richard Armitage. After a successful career in the British Army, he takes over a struggling newspaper and with unrivalled ruthlessness begins building his media empire. Meanwhile, Keith Townsend, the son of a millionaire and Oxford educated, returns to Australia from London to take over his father's newspaper with similar ambitions. As both men move their quest for power to the world stage, they realise they are more than a match for one another's brilliance and ambition.

Si, dans les années 1860, Singapour a tout d'une destination exotique, elle n'en reste pas moins une ville impressionnante pour Isabella, jeune Anglaise sans le sou, orpheline depuis la mort de sa mère. Ne trouvant pas de place de gouvernante, elle accepte l'offre de M. Lee, un riche marchand chinois. Elle s'installera chez lui et lui enseignera l'anglais. Deux ans plus tard, ce dernier lui présente Bram Deagan, un Irlandais ambitieux souhaitant s'installer en Australie et y ouvrir un négoce. M. Lee pousse Isabella à épouser Bram et à le suivre dans l'aventure.

Princess Théra, once known as Empress Üna of Dara, entrusted the throne to her younger brother in order to journey to Ukyu-Gondé to war with the Lyucu. She has crossed the fabled Wall of Storms with a fleet of advanced warships and 10,000 people. Beset by adversity, Théra and her most trusted companions attempt to overcome every challenge by doing the most interesting thing. But is not letting the past dictate the present always possible or even desirable?

Here is the kind of authentically detailed epic novel that has become Louis L’Amour’s hallmark. It is the compelling story of US Air Force major Joe Mack, a man born out of time. When his experimental aircraft is forced down in Russia and he escapes a Soviet prison camp, he must call upon the ancient skills of his Indian forebears to survive the vast Siberian wilderness.

In 1867, a good-natured Bavarian priest is sent by God and mad King Ludwig to the wilds of North America. Soon the backwoods are transformed into a parish and the settlers into a congregation, and Joseph Becker, a woodcarver, meets his future wife. Several decades later, Joseph Becker teaches his astounding carving skills to his grandchildren. One of them, Klara, shows exceptional talent and has a surfeit of what the local nuns call "a fondness for men's work". Untamed, she falls in love with Eamon O'Sullivan, an Irish boy, only to have him leave to fight in the Great War.

From America's master storyteller and writer of historical fiction comes the dramatic conclusion to the North and South saga. The Civil War has ended, but the Hazards and Mains have yet to face their greatest struggles. Even as the embers of old hatreds continue to burn in the heart of a nation torn apart by war, a new future in the West awaits a new generation of Americans seeking a life of their own - and a place to call their own.

Bombay was the city everyone came to in the early decades of the 19th century: among them, the Goans and the Mangaloreans, looking for safe harbour, livelihood, and a new place to call home. Communities congregated around churches and markets, sharing lord and land with the native East Indians. The young among them were nudged on to the path of marriage, procreation and godliness, though noble intentions were often ambushed by errant love and plain and simple lust. As in the story of Annette and Benji (and Joe) or Michael and Merlyn (and Ellena).

This magnificent novel - which secured for its author the 1955 Nobel Prize in Literature - is now available to contemporary American audiences. Although it is set in the early 20th century, it recalls both Iceland's medieval epics and such classics as Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter. And if Bjartur of Summerhouses, the book's protagonist, is an ordinary sheep farmer, his flinty determination to achieve independence is genuinely heroic and, at the same time, terrifying and bleakly comic.

In this sweeping novel, James A. Michener chronicles eight tumultuous centuries as three Polish families live out their destinies. With an inspiring tradition of resistance to brutal invaders, from the barbarians to the Nazis, and a heritage of pride that burns through eras of romantic passion and courageous solidarity, their common story reaches a breathtaking culmination in the historic showdown between the ruthless Communists and rebellious farmers of the modern age.

Kingsbridge, 1327. Quatre enfants sont les témoins d'une poursuite meurtrière dans les bois : un chevalier tue deux soldats au service de la reine, avant d'enfouir dans le sol une lettre mystérieuse, dont le secret pourrait bien mettre en danger la couronne d'Angleterre. Leurs quatre destinées s’en trouveront changées.

The saga begins in tribal, pre-Christian Ireland during the reign of the fierce and mighty High Kings at Tara, with the tale of two lovers whose travails cleverly echo the ancient Celtic legend of Cuchulainn. From that stirring beginning, Rutherfurd takes the listener on a powerfully imagined journey through the centuries. Through the interlocking stories of a memorable cast of characters we see Ireland through the lens of its greatest city.

Texas: a land of sprawling diversity and unparalleled richness; a dazzling chapter in the history of our nation; a place like no other on Earth. Through the remarkable lives of four families, this epic saga spans four centuries and two continents and charts the dramatic formation of several great dynasties from the age of the conquistadors to the present day. A richly compelling novel of a proud people eager to meet the challenge of the land, Texas is James Michener's most magnificent achievement.

And now, her uncle wants to marry her off to the fallen son of her arch-enemy. But Jael is a battle-hardened warrior, trained to kill since she was 10-years-old. She doesn’t plan on being anyone’s wife. Eadmund Skalleson is drunk. His father is threatening him with a wife again. And this time he’s given him an ultimatum. Marry Jael Furyck or your brother returns from exile. But if Eadmund was ever going to choose a wife, it wouldn’t be Jael Furyck. Not her. Not ever.

Occupied France is a dangerous place for Luke and Christine, especially when they are the children of a French mother and a British father. Desperate to escape, the two teenagers embark on a perilous journey back to England to the safety of their grandparents. But there are eyes everywhere.

Dans le Montréal des années 1940, tous les espoirs sont permis. Mariée à Maurice, Jeanne doit mener une lutte incessante pour assurer la survie de ses enfants et l'harmonie de sa famille. Le récit d'une époque où le dévouement et la générosité se dressaient devant les petits et les grands malheurs du monde.

Set against the colorful tumult of events that gave rise to our fledgling nation, this novel of romance and adventure introduces Phillipe Charboneau. The illegitimate son of an English nobleman, Phillipe flees Europe and, as Philip Kent, joins the men who set our course for freedom. The Bastard is the first volume in the Kent Family Chronicles, a series of novels that details one family's journey in the early years of the American nation.

À l’automne 1931, la jeune Agnès Lafrance réalise son rêve: elle sera institutrice. Cependant, à son arrivée dans le village des Laurentides où on l’a assignée, elle déchante. Rien ne se passe comme elle l’avait imaginé....

Les Misérables is set in Paris after the French Revolution. In the sewers and backstreets, we encounter "the wolf-like tread of crime", and assassination for a few sous is all in a day's work. We weep with the unlucky and heart-broken Fantine, and we exult with the heroic revolutionaries of the barricades; but above all we thrill to the steadfast courage and nobility of soul of ex-convict Jean Valjean, always in danger from the relentless pursuit of the diabolical Inspector Javert.