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High Towers
A magnificent historical romance chronicling the adventures of the fabulous Le Moyne Family of Montreal who became the heroes of French Canada and founded the storied city of New Orleans.
“Beyond [a] brief record of [the Le Moyne brothers’] achievements and the vital statistics in the archives at Montreal, what is known of the ten stout brothers? What manner of men were they? Were they typical of the French-Canadian people of this early period, brave, resolute, devout, light-hearted?
“To deal with them as characters in a novel, therefore, is a task approaching that of the scientist who tries to reconstruct a monster of prehistoric times with nothing more to go on than a broken rib and a fragment of jawbone. The result is certain to raise doubts in the minds of historians who are skeptical necessarily of anything stemming from the imagination. In my opinion, nevertheless, the only way to tell the saga of the Le Moynes, and to attempt the rescue of these remarkable brothers from the oblivion into which they have sunk, is to set down their story in the guise of historical fiction.” (Thomas B. Costain, Introduction)
Source: Google Books.
“Beyond [a] brief record of [the Le Moyne brothers’] achievements and the vital statistics in the archives at Montreal, what is known of the ten stout brothers? What manner of men were they? Were they typical of the French-Canadian people of this early period, brave, resolute, devout, light-hearted?
“To deal with them as characters in a novel, therefore, is a task approaching that of the scientist who tries to reconstruct a monster of prehistoric times with nothing more to go on than a broken rib and a fragment of jawbone. The result is certain to raise doubts in the minds of historians who are skeptical necessarily of anything stemming from the imagination. In my opinion, nevertheless, the only way to tell the saga of the Le Moynes, and to attempt the rescue of these remarkable brothers from the oblivion into which they have sunk, is to set down their story in the guise of historical fiction.” (Thomas B. Costain, Introduction)
Source: Google Books.
403 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1947
6 people are currently reading
162 people want to read
About the author
Thomas B. Costain
128 books186 followersCostain was born in Brantford, Ontario to John Herbert Costain and Mary Schultz. He attended high school there at the Brantford Collegiate Institute. Before graduating from high school he had written four novels, one of which was a 70,000 word romance about Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange. These early novels were rejected by publishers.
His first writing success came in 1902 when the Brantford Courier accepted a mystery story from him, and he became a reporter there (for five dollars a week). He was an editor at the Guelph Daily Mercury between 1908 and 1910. He married Ida Randolph Spragge (1888–1975) in York, Ontario on January 12, 1910. The couple had two children, Molly (Mrs. Howard Haycraft) and Dora (Mrs. Henry Darlington Steinmetz). Also in 1910, Costain joined the Maclean Publishing Group where he edited three trade journals. Beginning in 1914, he was a staff writer for and, from 1917, editor of Toronto-based Maclean's magazine. His success there brought him to the attention of The Saturday Evening Post in New York City where he was fiction editor for fourteen years.
In 1920 he became a naturalized U.S. citizen. He also worked for Doubleday Books as an editor 1939-1946. He was the head of 20th Century Fox’s bureau of literary development (story department) from 1934 to 1942.
In 1940, he wrote four short novels but was “enough of an editor not to send them out”. He next planned to write six books in a series he called “The Stepchildren of History”. He would write about six interesting but unknown historical figures. For his first, he wrote about the seventeenth-century pirate John Ward aka Jack Ward. In 1942, he realized his longtime dream when this first novel For My Great Folly was published, and it became a bestseller with over 132,000 copies sold. The New York Times reviewer stated at the end of the review "there will be no romantic-adventure lover left unsatisfied." In January 1946 he "retired" to spend the rest of his life writing, at a rate of about 3,000 words a day.
Raised as a Baptist, he was reported in the 1953 Current Biography to be an attendant of the Protestant Episcopal Church. He was described as a handsome, tall, broad-shouldered man with a pink and white complexion, clear blue eyes, and a slight Canadian accent. He was white-haired by the time he began to write novels. He loved animals and could not even kill a bug (but he also loved bridge, and he did not extend the same policy to his partners). He also loved movies and the theatre (he met his future wife when she was performing Ruth in the The Pirates of Penzance).
Costain's work is a mixture of commercial history (such as The White and The Gold, a history of New France to around 1720) and fiction that relies heavily on historic events (one review stated it was hard to tell where history leaves off and apocrypha begins). His most popular novel was The Black Rose (1945), centred in the time and actions of Bayan of the Baarin also known as Bayan of the Hundred Eyes. Costain noted in his foreword that he initially intended the book to be about Bayan and Edward I, but became caught up in the legend of Thomas a Becket's parents: an English knight married to an Eastern girl. The book was a selection of the Literary Guild with a first printing of 650,000 copies and sold over two million copies in its first year.
His research led him to believe that Richard III was a great monarch tarred by conspiracies, after his death, with the murder of the princes in the tower. Costain supported his theories with documentation, suggesting that the real murderer was Henry VII.
Costain died in 1965 at his New York City home of a heart attack at the age of 80. He is buried in the Farringdon Independent Church Cemetery in Brantford.
His first writing success came in 1902 when the Brantford Courier accepted a mystery story from him, and he became a reporter there (for five dollars a week). He was an editor at the Guelph Daily Mercury between 1908 and 1910. He married Ida Randolph Spragge (1888–1975) in York, Ontario on January 12, 1910. The couple had two children, Molly (Mrs. Howard Haycraft) and Dora (Mrs. Henry Darlington Steinmetz). Also in 1910, Costain joined the Maclean Publishing Group where he edited three trade journals. Beginning in 1914, he was a staff writer for and, from 1917, editor of Toronto-based Maclean's magazine. His success there brought him to the attention of The Saturday Evening Post in New York City where he was fiction editor for fourteen years.
In 1920 he became a naturalized U.S. citizen. He also worked for Doubleday Books as an editor 1939-1946. He was the head of 20th Century Fox’s bureau of literary development (story department) from 1934 to 1942.
In 1940, he wrote four short novels but was “enough of an editor not to send them out”. He next planned to write six books in a series he called “The Stepchildren of History”. He would write about six interesting but unknown historical figures. For his first, he wrote about the seventeenth-century pirate John Ward aka Jack Ward. In 1942, he realized his longtime dream when this first novel For My Great Folly was published, and it became a bestseller with over 132,000 copies sold. The New York Times reviewer stated at the end of the review "there will be no romantic-adventure lover left unsatisfied." In January 1946 he "retired" to spend the rest of his life writing, at a rate of about 3,000 words a day.
Raised as a Baptist, he was reported in the 1953 Current Biography to be an attendant of the Protestant Episcopal Church. He was described as a handsome, tall, broad-shouldered man with a pink and white complexion, clear blue eyes, and a slight Canadian accent. He was white-haired by the time he began to write novels. He loved animals and could not even kill a bug (but he also loved bridge, and he did not extend the same policy to his partners). He also loved movies and the theatre (he met his future wife when she was performing Ruth in the The Pirates of Penzance).
Costain's work is a mixture of commercial history (such as The White and The Gold, a history of New France to around 1720) and fiction that relies heavily on historic events (one review stated it was hard to tell where history leaves off and apocrypha begins). His most popular novel was The Black Rose (1945), centred in the time and actions of Bayan of the Baarin also known as Bayan of the Hundred Eyes. Costain noted in his foreword that he initially intended the book to be about Bayan and Edward I, but became caught up in the legend of Thomas a Becket's parents: an English knight married to an Eastern girl. The book was a selection of the Literary Guild with a first printing of 650,000 copies and sold over two million copies in its first year.
His research led him to believe that Richard III was a great monarch tarred by conspiracies, after his death, with the murder of the princes in the tower. Costain supported his theories with documentation, suggesting that the real murderer was Henry VII.
Costain died in 1965 at his New York City home of a heart attack at the age of 80. He is buried in the Farringdon Independent Church Cemetery in Brantford.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 12, 2021
As a romantic tale of historic fiction this novel is reasonably entertaining, but as a tribute to an alliance of strong and brave seigneurs, tradesmen and habitants of New France to overcome the harsh environment, corrupt and incompetent officialdom in France, and savage natives oversimplifies and misrepresents reality. Ultimately the heroes are represented as laying the groundwork not just for the French Empire in New France and Lousiana but, ultimately, for the "civilized" North American continent we see today. First nations resistance is dismissed in a few sentences although it is a prop that lurks in the background for most of the book. The juxtaposition of this perspective with my recent reading of Michel Jean's Kukum> was jolting.
March 30, 2025
Not my favorite Costain book thus far, but impressive in terms of how much time and space it spans. He has the ability to get you into a historical period and get you caught up in the lives of his characters. Interestingly, these characters are distinct from the characters in his other books I’ve read thus far.
What’s most impressive about this book is that I started reading it with Maeghan before she was dating Nolan (they are three years married now). I was able to get back into this book after having not touched it for years! Wow! (And I think I would have been more emotionally involved if it wasn’t for that big gap.)
As always, Costain makes me want to learn more about the actual history.
What’s most impressive about this book is that I started reading it with Maeghan before she was dating Nolan (they are three years married now). I was able to get back into this book after having not touched it for years! Wow! (And I think I would have been more emotionally involved if it wasn’t for that big gap.)
As always, Costain makes me want to learn more about the actual history.
January 24, 2024
Interesting take on the LeMoyne family. It is amazing how little has been written about this illustrious group. Pierre LeMoyne, known as D'Iberville is one the most amazing characters in Canadian history and his nine brothers were almost as fascinating. There has been nothing of note written in English about these men since the 1950's. High Towers doesn't add much to our knowledge of the LeMoynes, as the significance of their history is at times overshadowed by the fictional romance that ties the book together.
May 2, 2022
Here's one story where the romance in Costain's novels doesn't distract or pull down the story. The history of the "Canadian Maccabees" is fascinating, but there isn't much to the story that could be pulled into a single novel. So focusing on the life of a single person in the midst of the story, her life and troubles and desires to support the French (Canadian-French) cause, is appropriate and meaningful. Good story.
July 4, 2023
A long saga into which you slowly sink. Don’t rush it.
August 27, 2009
This was a nice little gem that I found after reading up on the author. I had read a few of his books as a young teen (I have always enjoyed historical romance-adventures). This one drew my attention as it was a fictional account of the founding of New Orleans, a city that I have a great love for. And if any city's founding is fascinating, it should be NOLA, being such an oddity as it is. This book was nothing special, though it did a good job of building a few nice characters and plot lines that were worth the time. And Costain always did a good job of writing with language that was something like a mix between Dickens and Margaret Mitchell. I don't think most modern men would like this sort of thing, and am even doubtful about modern women. But I always like it. It is like reading a novelization of a 50's historical epic movie from Paramount, in technicolor! I never really see these in a realistic setting, but more along the lines of sound stages with bright colors and rather corny but fancy costumes. That's not the authors fault, mind you, but the fault of my having watched too many of these sorts of movies as a young child. But in an odd way, that makes books like this all the more wonderful.
June 22, 2010
Interesting story about the founding and beginning days of the city of New Orleans. The book is about the LeMoyne family and their contributions to the cities of Montreal, Quebec and New Orleans. Interwoven into the story is the romance between a young woman who was taken in as a young child by the LeMoyne family, and a poor carpenter with whom she fell in love with as a child. Obligations to family and country prevented their romance from coming to fruition and the story chronicles their lives as fate seems to bring them to the same place, although for different reasons.
September 28, 2013
Reading this book was an exercise in self-flagellation if you want to punish yourself then this is the book for you. The plot is boring and the characters are one dimensional, at no point was I emotionally or intellectually invested in this book.
March 27, 2008
This book reinforces the importance of loyalty and makes you believe that it will be rewarded. It was fun to picture New Orleans in the very beginning, struggling to become a colony.
July 6, 2013
Just okay. I wasn't nearly as enthralled as I was when I was 20. Characters pretty thin.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews