FRANCE AUTHOR · FICTION · HISTORY
Vercors
Also known as: Jean Marcel Adolphe Bruller, Jean Bruller
Jean Marcel Adolphe Bruller was born in France, the son of a Hungarian Jewish father and French mother. He studied to be an electrical engineer, but became instead a graphic artist, producing illustrations and cartoons and known for his absurd illustrated novels. His most notable pre-war work was illustrating André Maurois's Patapoufs and Filifers. In 1941, during the German occupation of France, he joined the resistance. He and fellow author Pierre de Lescure co-founded the clandestine publishing house Les Éditions de Minuit. The first book they printed was 'Le Silence de la Mer', which Bruller wrote and published under the pseudonym Vercors. Le Silence de la Mer, which dealt with the moral impossibility of collaboration with the Germans, was dropped into France in large numbers by the British RAF.
Most acclaimed
The Silence of the Sea
'Mummy dead.' The child's pure treble was uncomfortably clear. 'Daddy dead. Adda dead. Bygga dead.' The child sighed and clutched her grandmother's leg. 'All dead.' ... A luxury yacht arrives in Reykjavik harbour with nobody on board. What has happened to the crew, and to the family who were on board when it left Lisbon? Thora Gudmundsdottir is hired by the young father's parents to investigate, and is soon drawn deeper into the mystery. What should she make of the rumours saying that the vessel was cursed, especially given that when she boards the yacht she thinks she sees one of the missing twins? Where is Karitas, the glamorous young wife of the yacht's former owner? And whose is the body that has washed up further along the shore?
Anne Boleyn
Ever since she first appeared in the Tudor court, Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's second queen, has been a mystery and a source of controversy. Even her birth is shrouded in obscurity; both year and place are the subject of debate. Was she beautiful, as those who fell under her spell believed, or was she a rather plain girl blessed with striking eyes and a wealth of black hair? More mysterious still is the nature of her role in one of the most turbulent times in British history. Henry, who wrote her impassioned love letters and composed songs in her praise, honored her as no woman was ever honored before, and finally defied the Pope in order to marry her. Her enemies at the time believed she owed her success to witchcraft, and indeed she bore two 'devil's marks'. But was she, in fact, only a hapless pawn, subject to the passions of a notoriously mercurial autocrat? Why was her fall from favor so sudden and complete? Henry's love changed to a hatred so vicious that he conspired with his chief minister to have her accused of adultery with five men - one her own brother. Four of them went to the block protesting her innocence - and their own. *** Norah Lofts is a well-loved author of historical fiction; her 100,000s of fans will enjoy her nonfiction biography of the most interesting of Henry's wives. Praise for Norah Lofts: • 'The narrative has pace, the characters substance, the finale a powerful twist and the sense of period is rich and authentic' THE SUNDAY TIMES • 'Norah Lofts is a capable and professional writer, a natural storyteller whose characters are neatly and believably portrayed: whose prose is smooth and readable' THE NEW YORK TIMES.