Title : The Glory of the Damned - Nicolas d'Estienne d'Orves - book Summary : The daughter of a collaborator executed before her eyes at the Liberation, Gabrielle Valoria is to write the first biography of Sidonie Porel. But who is Sidonie Porel really? The most famous novelist of her time, or a literary fraud? A great lover or a manipulator? Delving into the past of this woman she both fears and admires, Gabrielle discovers a world teeming with liars and traitors. Writers, politicians, journalists, prostitutes, big bosses: all hiding a secret that kills... In Successive Loyalties ( Cazes-Lipp Prize ), Nicolas d'Estienne d'Orves explored the ambiguities of the Occupation, with La Gloire des cursed, he attacks the lies of the post-war period. This romantic portrait of a France in the aftermath of chaos, where we meet the great figures of intellectual and artistic Paris in the 1950s, shows that the past always catches up with us and that wars never end. EAN : 9782226317308 Used book Book in good condition The book matches the photo

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Title : The Berber Dreamlighter - Fellag - book Summary : In an Algiers housing project in the early 1990s, water is distributed twice a week, from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. During this time, while the water flows and life resumes, Zakaria, a famous journalist, observes the actions of his fellow citizens from his balcony and records them on index cards. He would like to use them to compose the great novel of his life and reconnect with his youthful dreams, from the time when he was not shackled by the system. For Zakaria is going through a crisis of conscience. Since the events of October 1988, he joined the protest movement but finds himself caught in a vice: on one side, an old regime that must be dynamited; on the other, Islamist extremists who hunt down women, intellectuals, and all those who refuse to conform to their vision of the world. To escape death, he hides at home during the day and only leaves his observation post at nightfall to tell us the most incredible stories that abound in a country gripped by fear. With The Berber Dream Igniter , Fellag sets fire to the imagination of a people who cultivate supreme elegance: that of laughing at their misfortunes. EAN : 9782709626705 Used book Book in good condition The book matches the photo

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Title : The Words in My Hands - Guinevere Glasfurd - book Summary : Helena Jans van der Strom is not your average maid. When she arrives in Amsterdam to work for an English bookseller, the young woman, fascinated by words, has taught herself to read and write. Her independence and thirst for knowledge will find echoes in the heart and mind of the philosopher René Descartes. But in this 17th century of light and shadow, their affair could be their undoing. Descartes is Catholic, Helena is Protestant. He is a philosopher, she is a maid. What could their future hold? By revealing this proven and little-known romantic relationship, Guinevere Glasfurd paints a fascinating portrait of a luminous woman, ahead of her time, and reveals another side of the famous French philosopher. A novel of passion and freedom that immerses us in a captivating fresco of the Netherlands in the "golden age", in the style of The Girl with a Pearl Earring. EAN : 9782253107804 Used book Book in good condition The book matches the photo

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Title : The Bourgeois - Alice Ferney - book Summary : They call themselves Bourgeois, and their surname is also a way of life. They are eight brothers and two sisters, born in Paris between 1920 and 1940. They grew up in the wake of the Great War and the beginnings of the Second. In the favorite places of bourgeois society—the army, the navy, medicine, the bar, business—they are part of historical events and social developments. From decolonization to the post-May '68 period, their lives span an entire era. The march of the world never discourages their deployment. From Jules the elder to Marie the last, the appearance and disappearance of the characters, their aspirations and their commitments punctuate the formidable clockwork of this novel, very different from a simple family saga. For here it is the century that is reconstructed in brief discontinuous sequences, like a vast mosaic where the portraits of the ten members of the family gradually stand out - and a little of their ancestors, and already their children. Alice Ferney casts a novelist's and historian's eye over this dizzying cycle of time. From a contemporary perspective, she retraces the journey. Constantly moving from the singular to the collective, from individual destiny to the national epic, she reveals history in the making, the errors, the guilty silences, the erroneous choices that explain the confusion of the present. Ample and captivating, Les Bourgeois thus proves to be a formidable analysis of our roots: a book that sifts an entire French century through the sieve of family romance. EAN : 9782330081775 Used book Book in good condition The book matches the photo

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Title : The Florio - Volume 1 - The Lions of Sicily - Stefania Auci - book Summary : The novel that inspired the Disney+ series. “The real good surprise of this literary season.” The Stampa “I devoured it!” Gerard Collard, The Health Magazine 1799. Paolo and Ignazio Florio leave their native Calabria to settle in Palermo. Passionate, ambitious but poor and of modest origin, the two brothers and their family aspire to only one thing: to rise among the powerful of the city. This is without taking into account the contempt of the Palermitans who look askance at these foreigners whose "blood stinks of sweat." Through stubbornness and willpower, the Florios, by launching into the spice trade, forge a path that, perhaps one day, will give them an empire. But Their success does not protect them from more intimate dramas , because Paolo and Ignazio, although united like the five fingers of a hand, love the same woman... A phenomenal success in Italy, it was soon adapted for the screen by the producers of My Brilliant Friend . The Lions of Sicily opens a passionate and tormented fresco, in the image of this Southern Italy which constitutes its setting. “A legendary family... A fascinating mosaic of public, private, and historical stories.” Vanity Fair “One of the must-read novels of the summer. ” Booksellers' Page EAN : 9782226442024 Used book Book in good condition The book matches the photo

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Title : The Quay of Ouistreham - Florence Aubenas - book Summary : “The crisis. We talked about nothing else, but without really knowing what to say or how to take stock of it. Everything gave the impression that the world was collapsing. And yet, around us, things still seemed to be in their right place. I decided to go to a French city where I had no ties, to look for work anonymously… I rented a furnished room. I only came back home twice, in a hurry: I had too much to do there. I kept my identity, my name, my papers, and I registered as unemployed with only a baccalaureate as luggage. I went blonde. I never took off my glasses. I didn't receive any benefits. It was agreed that I would stop the day my search came to fruition, that is, the day I landed a permanent contract. This book tells the story of my quest, which lasted almost six months, from February to July 2009. I kept my room furnished. I returned there this winter to write this book. Florence Aubenas EAN : 9782879296777 Used book Book in good condition The book matches the photo

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Title : It was good - Jean d'Ormesson - book Summary : Author of some twenty works, Jean d'Ormesson looks back on his past and on a life that has already been long. Like each of us, he was swept away by a time that invents everything before destroying everything. He lived in one of the bloodiest centuries in history. He witnessed the triumph of a science that now carries as many fears as hopes. He tried to be happy in a world where evil is inextricably mixed with the search for happiness. On this perishable earth, he loved books, women, and sea bathing. Books were the great business of his fleeting existence, of which he speaks with distance and gratitude. Gratitude to whom? Amazed by the endless play of chance and necessity, enchanted by a world he has traveled from one end to the other (with a preference for the Mediterranean), he believes in an order of things whose meaning he ignores. With ironic and slightly melancholic joy, he communicates to the reader three feelings that he experiences with force: stupor before the universe, terror before history, fervor before life. EAN : 9782070768196 Used book Book in good condition The book matches the photo

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Title : Hedonist Manifesto - Michel Onfray - book Summary : "Hedonistic philosophy is a psychological, ethical, erotic, aesthetic, bioethical, political proposition... It (is) a discourse on the nature of things so that everyone can find their place in nature, a world, a cosmos in the perspective of a successful life - a successful life being defined as the one we would like to relive if it were possible for us to live one again." Michel Onfray, philosopher, has always placed hedonism and atheism at the heart of his work. Founder of the Popular University of Caen and then of the University of Taste in Argentan, he is also known for his courses on the counter-history of philosophy, regularly broadcast on France Culture. EAN : 9782746716124 Used book Book in good condition The book matches the photo

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Title : Double Je - Sylvie Granotier - book Summary : Love, friendship, ambition: they shared it all. Together, Sophie and Elisabeth could have made a perfect woman. But power and the desire to possess everything, even to the point of dispossessing oneself, overcame beautiful feelings. Today, they are two "friends" whose destinies are so intertwined that they end up merging. Only death will be able to unravel them, distinguish the true from the false, the victim from the executioner. Against a backdrop of political and financial scandals, resentments and unfulfilled passions, a fatal Hitchcock-style duo in which Sylvie Granotier confuses the issue with disturbing mastery. After Jean-Christophe Grangé and Maud Tabachnik, a new French author makes a spectacular entrance into the “Spécial Suspense” collection. EAN : 9782226132666 Used book Book in good condition The book matches the photo

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Title : Stolen Childhood - Vale Allen Charlotte - book Summary : “My dearest Snow, By the time you read this, I'll be dead. There's no way to soften the brutality of the revelation I have to make, so I'll get straight to the point: I am not your mother. On September 21, 1963, I kidnapped you from a New York City supermarket... I know this will be a terrible shock to you, and I don't ask you to forgive me. But I would like you to try to understand... With all my love, Anne Cooke." Everything suddenly collapses around Snow, now alone with her fear, her doubts, her rebellion. Who was this mother from whom she was stolen? And who was this woman she called Mother, this monstrous stranger whom, alas, she cannot help but love? Her life is suddenly nothing more than a lie, an enigma to which she must find the key... EAN : 9782280094054 Used book Book in good condition The book matches the photo

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Title : With the Worst Intentions - Alessandro Piperno - book Summary : Iconoclastic, provocative, and politically incorrect, this novel paints a portrait of a family from the good Roman Jewish bourgeoisie, the Sonninos. First and foremost, Bepy, who, at the end of the war, prefers to forget the "clownish couple" Mussolini-Hitler and return to a glittering and futile existence in which women, especially those of his friends, occupy a lot of space. He will never understand why his youngest son Teo, gifted and attractive, chooses to go and live "in this insane country called Israel." Fortunately, his eldest, Luca, follows in his father's footsteps: double-breasted cashmere coat, Porsche Carrera, and frequent business class. As for his grandson Daniel, the narrator, the product of an improbable mixed marriage, he is caught in an insoluble dilemma: "being Jewish for the gentiles" and "gentile for the Jews." A handicap to which will be added his sexual shyness and his inability to take on the beautiful Gaia, in the whirlwind of the golden youth of Rome. EAN : 9782867463952 Used book Book in good condition The book matches the photo

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Title : Sentimental Destinies - Jacques Chardonne - book Summary : Of all Jacques Chardonne's novels, Les destins sentimentales is undoubtedly the most ambitious. This historical and intimate fresco traces the destiny of Jean and Pauline, a couple facing the upheavals of the first decades of the 20th century. Romantic adventure and social adventure intertwine, making this love story a subtle portrayal of the bourgeois and provincial society of the great cognac and porcelain manufacturers. A flamboyant, strangely contemporary work that reveals the art and style of one of the greatest French novelists. EAN : 9782226115898 Used book Book in good condition The book matches the photo

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Title : The English Corpse - Jean-François Parot - book Summary : Paris 1777, a mysterious prisoner dies while attempting to escape from the Fort-L'Evêque prison. At the same time, the prodigal and carefree Queen Marie-Antoinette asks Nicolas Le Floch to counter schemes aimed at compromising her. A breathless and meticulous investigation! From Paris to Versailles, the Enlightenment detective continues his journey through the century, going from surprise to surprise. Who is this mysterious victim? What secret are the English and French fighting over as the American colonies rise up? For what purpose is a precious object stolen from Frederick II? Is love throwing its weight into the balance? Armed with the trust of the young Louis XVI and the support of his friends, will he succeed, despite perils and obstacles, in unraveling the mysteries of these extraordinary affairs? In this seventh volume, our hero will experience the excitement of a criminal hunt and the bitterness of a breakup. EAN : 9782709628679 Used book Book in good condition The book matches the photo

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Title : Hortense and Queenie - Andrea Levy - book Summary : 1948, England is still shaken by the war. At 21 Nevern Street lives Queenie Bligh, a beautiful, temperamental woman raised the hard way in the Midlands. Her husband, Bernard, has not returned from India, where he was serving in the Royal Air Force. To survive, Queenie is forced to take in lodgers, including a Jamaican couple, Gilbert and Hortense. Gilbert Joseph has also just fought in the war under the flag of the Empire and the blue uniform of the RAF. Determined to stay in London, he endures everyday racism, whether he likes it or not. His cheeky wit helps him overcome the humiliations. His young wife, Hortense, has always dreamed of living in England. She joins Gilbert in the small room Queenie rents them. Disillusionment is not in short supply. Hortense, always concerned with her elegance, is shocked by the surrounding poverty. The motherland is not what she imagined in the shade of the mango trees. Andrea Levy weaves with great finesse of observation a novel in four voices, tinged with humor and emotion, imbued with exoticism and humanity, about the meeting and mixing of cultures. A great novel, crowned with numerous awards, unanimously celebrated by critics and the public. EAN : 9782710328131 Used book Book in good condition The book matches the photo

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Title : The African - JMG Le Clézio - book Summary : See photos EAN : 9782715224704 Used book Book in good condition The book matches the photo

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Title : Lise and Loïc's Summer - Berneuil Elisabeth Bobrie - book Summary : Lise, a young teacher in an English college at the beginning of the 20th century, writes day after day the extraordinary story of a little girl, Macha. Loïc, 10, who is spending the summer with her, is her first audience. Each reading is an opportunity for laughter-filled exchanges on many themes as varied as respect, tolerance, forgiveness, but also the evolution of beings, reincarnation... punctuated by the twists and turns of the story. A playful novel in a fluid and imaginative language. EAN : 9782955194119 Used book Book in good condition The book matches the photo

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Title : Journey to the Land of Cotton - Erik Orsenna - book Summary : “This story begins in the mists of time. A passing man notices a shrub whose branches end in white flakes. We can imagine him approaching it with his hand. The human race has just become acquainted with the softness of cotton. For years, something told me that by following the paths of cotton, from agriculture to the textile industry via biochemistry, from Koutiala (Mali) to Datang (China) via Lubbock (Texas), Cuiabá (Mato Grosso), Alexandria, Tashkent and the Vologne Valley (France, Vosges department), I would better understand my planet. The results of the long investigation exceeded my expectations. To understand globalization, both past and present, nothing beats examining a piece of fabric. Probably because it is made only of threads and ties, and shuttle journeys. EAN : 9782213625270 Used book Book in good condition The book matches the photo

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Title : The Children of Alexandria - The Forgotten Queen - Volume 1 - Françoise Chandernagor - Book Summary : At that time, the world was young, and Alexandria was the most beautiful city in the world. At sea level, the Most Brilliant dazzled with its whiteness. White were the soft stone terraces, the alabaster columns, the marble-paved avenues, and white was the great Lighthouse... Alexandria: jewel of an empire that Antony and Clopter would drag down with them in their fall. From the loves of the Imperator and the Queen of Egypt were born three children: Slen and Alexander, twins, a girl and a boy, brown and blond, and little Ptolemy. Ephemeral princes, who grew up in the purple and incense of the Royal Quarter with their half-brother, the child-pharaoh born to Caesar. All still so young, so fragile, when the turmoil fell upon them. Four children with a tragic destiny. Slen, the sole survivor, would never forget the annihilation of his kingdom, his dynasty, his gods. Prisoner in a foreign land, she will now live to avenge her brothers and ensure the survival of the vanquished in the world of the victors... With the writing sensitivity and novelistic force that made The King's Alley a classic, François Chandernagor captures the little-known life of the last of the Ptolemies, the Forgotten Queen. Exploring the said and unsaid of History with a erudition that does not preclude empathy, she questions a two-thousand-year-old past. A singular, breathtaking tale. A grandiose fresco. EAN : 9782226221315 Used book Book in good condition The book matches the photo

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Title : The Song of the Innocents - Donna Leon - book Summary : A pediatrician and his wife attacked in the middle of the night, their eighteen-month-old baby kidnapped before their eyes... Why on earth did the Carabinieri - the Italian gendarmes - burst into this couple's home and seize this little boy? Did the blow dealt by his assailant really render the doctor mute, as he claims? What connection does this arrest have with those carried out simultaneously by the Carabinieri in other cities? And finally, who could have ordered such a horrific operation? These are the questions that plague Commissioner Guido Brunetti and his deputy, Inspector Vianello, when they are assigned this case. For this new investigation, Donna Leon takes us into the twists and turns of magnificent Venice and into the sordid twists and turns of a child trafficking network. "The sixteenth installment of the adventures of Inspector Brunetti is dazzling. Donna Leon continues to refine her work, each time painting vivid portraits of her characters and of Venice, without ever losing her capacity for indignation." EAN : 9782702140796 Used book Book in good condition The book matches the photo

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