Entreprendre Editions is pleased to present the new work by novelist Christian MARIA, a spy novel and historical novel revisiting the Franco-Ottoman siege of Nice in 1543.
“The Last Bastion of the Savoy” concludes a series of historical crime novels that offer a panorama of Eastern Provence and the States of Savoy in the 16th century. It is the last adventure of Charles de Montreil, a Savoyard gentleman who traverses a century troubled by the Protestant Reformation and the fierce war between Francis I and Charles V. In this final novel, through an espionage adventure, the reader dives into the web of causes and effects that led a Franco-Ottoman coalition to lay siege to Nice in 1543, a siege where the washerwoman Catherine Ségurane became a Niçoise heroine.
Ninth and final novel of a saga begun in 2004
It is Nice, May 1543. Espionage activities report the formation of a new royal army in Marseille, but the surprise is great a few weeks later when the Niçois discover that war will be waged against them by Franco-Ottoman troops. Nothing seems to be able to resist this formidable coalition supported by the feared Barbarossa’s armada. And it is an unequal battle that ensues, come summer, around the last bastion of the House of Savoy.
About the Author
Honorary professor, Christian Maria lives and writes in Nice. Since 2004, he has been developing a saga of historical crime novels set against the backdrop of Provence and the States of Savoy in the 16th century. LA PALA received the Nice Traditions Literature Prize in 2004, ROUTE PAGARINE the Ecrins Literature Prize in 2009, THE TESTAMENT OF CANAVESIO, the Arts and Letters of France Prize in 2010, THE LAWYER FOR THE POOR, the Claude Favre de Vaugelas Prize in 2012 and THE TREACHERY OF THE GRIMALDIS, the Grand Prize of the Francophone World. He is the author of short story collections with Baie des Anges Editions, an art book, as well as historical novels rooted in the Niçoise terroir.
The author will give a lecture on April 2 at the Romain Gary Heritage Library of Nice.
The Saga of Christian Maria’s Historical Crime Novels
1521: La Pala
1525: The Lawyer for the Poor
1530: The Secret of the Princes
1535: The Surair
1536: The Mystery of the Pyramid
1538: Route Pagarine
1541: The Testament of Canavesio
1543: The Treachery of the Grimaldis
1543: The Last Bastion of the Savoy
Nine novels in maxi-pocket format that illustrate a fantastic saga. Sacred art works incinerated, a knight of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem poisoned, a cadaver lying in the Rue Droite of the Niçoise city, a mysterious character found drowned with stigmata on their body, the disappearance of young shepherdesses, identity usurpation on the road between Nice and Turin… The historical crime novels that Christian Maria has passionately published since 2004 have sparked enthusiasm in the Alpes-Maritimes. They now form a saga of nine novels that situate adventures between Savoy, Provence, the county of Nice, and Piedmont in the 16th century, a saga rooted in History, heritage, beliefs, superstitions, and mores of this troubled era.
The entirety of this production, several times awarded by literary prizes, is offered by Entreprendre-Elix Editions in maxi-pocket format. Readers fond of adventure and History discover both historical and fictional characters such as Charles de Montreil and his beautiful wife Anne, grappling with faith, doubt, love, and the passions exacerbated by the new ideas circulating in the century. These humanist heroes evolve in Nice, Genoa, Chambéry, Annecy, Monaco, Geneva, Marseille, Turin, Èze, in the valleys of Roya, Tinée, and Vésubie. Sacred art in the county of Nice, the medieval streets of Lantosque, the Gubernatis palace in Saint-Martin-Vésubie, the bridges at L’Escarène and Sospel, the mills, the blacksmith shops, the castles of the Dukes of Savoy, the mule tracks climbing the Alps, all constitute the fabulous backdrop of adventures that torment men and reveal souls.
The position of the county of Nice and the duchy of Savoy in the European geopolitics of the 16th century is developed through its economic, religious, and cultural aspects. It serves as a backdrop for intrigues that draw their essence from the great religious, intellectual, and artistic movements that mark this century as the beginning of modern times.
