This Thursday, June 1st at 6 PM at the Louis Nucéra Library, Franz-Olivier Giesbert presents his latest novel “Belle d’Amour” (Gallimard Editions).
An expert in love, pastries, and troubadour songs, Tiphanie, known as Belle d’amour, was one of Saint Louis’s followers and actively participated in the last two crusades in the East. However, her life, which could have been a fairy tale, often turns into a nightmare.
Cast out very young onto the kingdom’s roads after her parents were sentenced to death, she was enslaved in Paris, from where she escapes to answer the call of the crusaders, sets sail for the Holy Land, and embarks on a journey of initiation. Thanks to her healing skills, she gains the king’s trust before learning from him about Islam, war, and many other things.
A rollicking epic full of twists and turns, “Belle d’amour” tells the story of a woman’s destiny but also depicts the Middle Ages during the time of the crusades. An era that reminds us a lot of our own: politics and religion intertwine while the East and the West wage war in the name of God.
