''Fortune de France'' (''Fortunes of France'') is a sequence of 13 historical novels by French author

Robert Merle Robert Merle (; 28 August 1908 – 27 March 2004) was a French novelist. Early life Merle was born in 1908 in Tébessa, French Algeria. His father Félix, who was an interpreter "with a perfect knowledge of literary and spoken Arabic", was kille ...

, published between 1977 and 2003. The series is about 16th and 17th century France through the eyes of a fictitious

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

doctor-turned-spy Pierre de Siorac. It made Merle a household name in France, with the author repeatedly called the Alexandre Dumas of the 20th century. As of 2014, ''Fortune de France'' had sold over five million copies in France.

Plot

The series spans the years 1547 to 1661, shadowing the European wars of religion of the 16th and 17th centuries. In the first novel, veteran soldiers Jean de Siorac and Jean de Sauveterre settle into Château Mespech in

Périgord Périgord ( , ; ; oc, Peiregòrd / ) is a natural region and former province of France, which corresponds roughly to the current Dordogne department, now forming the northern part of the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It is div ...

, a beautiful but dangerous region of France far from the influence of the king. Staunch

royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governm ...

s but also devoted

s, the men assemble a loyal community around them, but are challenged as religious unrest, poverty and famine threaten their way of life and push the country into chaos. Siorac's son Pierre narrates the first six novels, and Pierre's own son Pierre-Emmanuel narrates the remaining seven volumes. The men meet many notable people and witness various historical events, including the marriage of

Henry, King of Navarre ''Henry, King of Navarre'' is a 1924 British silent historical film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Matheson Lang, Gladys Jennings and Henry Victor. It was based on a novel by Alexandre Dumas. Cast * Matheson Lang as Henry * Gladys Je ...

to Margaret of France, the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, and the assassination of Henry III of France.

Novels

The first novel, ''Fortune de France'', was published by Plon in 1977 when Merle was nearly 70, and the last was released in 2003 when he was 95. Merle wrote the first installment as a one-off, but continued the series as "readers clamoured for more". The author died in 2004. The series was never translated into English until Pushkin Press published the first volume (translated by T. Jefferson Kline) as ''The Brethren'' on 11 September 2014, with a US edition released on 3 March 2015. Both English versions of the second novel were published by Pushkin as ''City of Wisdom and Blood'' in September 2015. The third novel was published as ''Heretic Dawn'' on 4 February 2016, and the fourth novel was published on 5 July 2018 as ''League of Spies.'' As of January 2021, Pushkin Press has no plans to move forward with translating and publishing the remaining nine volumes of the series in English. Kline, a fan of the series, submitted his translation on spec to Pushkin, where editor Daniel Seton was surprised to find that such an "undiscovered gem" had been thus far overlooked in the UK.

Style and historical interpretation

Merle wrote the 500-page novels of his ''Fortune de France'' series "using many of the idioms and speech rhythms of that period, some of them taken from the region of

". James Kirkup noted in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'': Merle himself said, "The readers accepted their apprenticeship and were delighted to learn so many good expressions and terms from the Old French of the 16th century." In 1982's ''Le Prince que voilà'' (''Behold the Prince''), Merle challenged the typical " caricatured" portrayal of Henry III by presenting the king as "a brilliant intellectual

ho was Ho (or the transliterations He or Heo) may refer to: People Language and ethnicity * Ho people, an ethnic group of India ** Ho language, a tribal language in India * Hani people, or Ho people, an ethnic group in China, Laos and Vietnam * Hiri Mo ...

very courageous in his refusal to punish the Protestants". Pushkin Press editor Daniel Seton suggests that Merle's own experiences in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

influenced ''Fortune de France'' novels, saying "There is quite a clear antiwar stance. While there is plenty of action and swordplay, the protagonist is generally horrified by the descent of his country into civil war and the cruelty shown by both sides, Protestants and Catholics, during the conflict. His main aim is to try to protect himself and those close to him, regardless of religion, from the violence." Robert Merle attached great importance to the historical accuracy of his novels. He did not want his novels to be associated with those of Alexandre Dumas or

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

for example, whose works had, according to him, no historical value. On the other hand, he felt closer to

Gustave Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flauber ...

, author of

Salammbô ''Salammbô'' (1862) is a historical novel by Gustave Flaubert. It is set in Carthage immediately before and during the Mercenary Revolt (241–237 BCE). Flaubert's principal source was Book I of the ''Histories'', written by the Greek hist ...

Reception

Kirkup called the ''Fortune de France'' series "spectacular" and dubbed it Merle's "major achievement". Douglas Johnson of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' described the author as "a master of the historical novel". The series made Merle a household name in France, and he has been repeatedly called the Alexandre Dumas of the 20th century. ''

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

'' dubbed Merle "France's greatest popular novelist", and ''

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of r ...

'' observed, "Robert Merle is one of the very few French writers who have attained both popular success and the admiration of critics." Writing for ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', Allan Massie praised Merle's "thorough research, depth of understanding and popular touch", noting that "one of the strengths of Merle’s novels in his ability to evoke the feeling and texture of everyday life as well as high politics". Massie compared the first novel in Merle's series to

Maurice Druon Maurice Druon (23 April 1918 – 14 April 2009) was a French novelist and a member of the Académie Française, of which he served as "Perpetual Secretary" (chairman) between 1985 and 1999. Life and career Born in Paris, France, Druon was the s ...

's '' The Accursed Kings'' (''Les Rois maudits''), another famed French historical novel series, writing "There is a philosophical depth to the novel absent from Druon, for the Brethren are attracted to the Reformed Protestant (or Huguenot) faith ... Though not as gripping as ''The Accursed Kings'', ''The Brethren'' never strays, as Druon sometimes does, into the grotesque. It has a credibly human solidity." Toby Clements of ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'' wrote, "There are set-piece discussions on the dilemmas of faith that are informative if not the stuff of high drama, and passages on the history of France that can only be made sense of with the aid of a map and a memory for names. But elsewhere there is much colour, and, overall, ''The Brethren'' gives a salty and plausible idea of just how different, odd and parlous life might have been." As of 2014, ''Fortune de France'' had sold over five million copies in France.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fortune De France French historical novels Historical novels by series Novels set in the 16th century Novels set in the 17th century Historical television series Plon (publisher) books