Soon, that world is upended: The Germans march into Paris and refugees flee south, overrunning Viann’s land. She returns to tending her small farm, Le Jardin, in the Loire Valley, teaching at the local school and coping with daughter Sophie’s adolescent rebellion. Cut to spring, 1940: Viann has said goodbye to husband Antoine, who's off to hold the Maginot line against invading Germans. This trajectory is interrupted when she receives an invitation to return to France to attend a ceremony honoring passeurs: people who aided the escape of others during the war. In 1995, an elderly unnamed widow is moving into an Oregon nursing home on the urging of her controlling son, Julien, a surgeon. Hannah’s new novel is an homage to the extraordinary courage and endurance of Frenchwomen during World War II. Stylish and intelligent historical fiction that makes even the supernatural credible. Nostradamus can help rescue Sibille, but France is about to be torn apart by civil war. But true love never runs smoothly: as sorcerers concoct deadly potions, Nicholas is banished the queen plots her rival’s death and Sibille, hostage to Menander after she opened the box, is soon in mortal danger. Sibille falls in love with Nicholas Montevert, a banker’s son, when he saves her from attack by Villasse’s hired henchman. Not only that, but she, too, wants Menander’s head, and Sibille soon finds herself caught between the queen’s followers, who insist that she come to court, and Villasse, who wants her killed. Meanwhile, Nostradamus, who has seen the future of France (it’s not good), has been summoned by Catherine, who also wants him to predict the future. There, she accidentally acquires a box that contains the head of Menander, the “Master of all Desires,” who grants wishes in exchange for souls. But Sibille, an unconventional beauty and aspiring poet with large feet but a courageous heart and a good mind, fires a gun at Villasse and, thinking she’s killed him, flees to her aunt Pauline in OrlÇans. The noble de la Roche family has its troubles too: the parents hope the arranged marriage of their daughter Sibille to brutish but rich Villasse will pay their debts. The Protestants are growing in power King Henri II ignores his queen, Catherine de MÇdici, in favor of his mistress, Diane de Poitiers the Dauphin is betrothed to Mary, Queen of Scots, a potentially powerful alliance, but he’s a dull and sickly boy.
Another dazzling mix of history, romance, and the occult from Riley, a writer who excels at getting the background right and creating strong intelligent heroines (The Serpent Garden, 1996, etc.).
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