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Marianne #5
Les lauriers de flammes 1
Devenue princesse Sant'Anna par son mariage italien, Marianne n'a jamais cessé de servir l'Empereur, depuis son ancienne liaison avec lui. Quand finiront ces ambassades secrètes et dangereuses aux quatre coins de l'Europe en guerre ? Alors qu'elle se dirige vers la Corne d'or, Marianne mesure les risques de sa dernière mission. Comment déjouer la surveillance des espions anglais, atteindre le Sérail et rencontrer en tête à tête la sultane de Constantinople ? Les désirs de Napoléon sont des ordres : la guerre entre l'Empire ottoman et la Russie doit se Prolonger, afin qu'il puisse marcher librement sur Moscou. C'est alors que pour son bonheur de femme et d'amante réapparaît Jason Beaufort, qui n'a jamais renoncé à elle.
316 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
About the author
Juliette Benzoni
311 books157 followersJuliette Benzoni, (Andrée-Marguerite-Juliette) was a French author and international bestseller in several genres, including historical romance, historical fiction, mystery and screenwriting. Named by the Media as the « Queen of History Novels » and « Daughter of Alexander Dumas».
Born 1920 in Paris and growing up in an upper-middle-class family. At the age of nine, she discovered her passion for history while looking at a photo of ‘Joan of Arc’. Benzoni studied at the Institut Catholique de Paris’, philosophy, law and literature. At the age of fifteen, her parents moved to Saint-Mandé where she lived until her death.
In 1941, she married a doctor from Dijon, and was soon mother of two children. During that period, she studied at the libraries of Dijon the History of the Dukes of Burgundy, where she stumbled on the Legend of the Order of the Golden Fleece, which would later inspire her for her Catherine series.
In 1950, her husband died and she went to Morocco, visiting relatives of her late husband and joined the editorial staff at a radio station and met her future husband, Colonel Count André Benzoni di Conza. They married in 1953, but because of the unstable political situation, she returned to Paris, while her husband was to join the 6th Regiment of Moroccan Spahis in Hué.
Back in Paris, she launched into journalism and worked for various Newspapers, Magazines and wrote for ‘Confidences’ historical articles and interviewed celebrities such as Jean Cocteau, Jean Marais, Erich von Stroheim and Maurice Chevalier.
In 1959, Gérald Gauthier, director of the Press Agency at Opéra Mundi, watched her in a popular television Quiz show and impressed by her historical knowledge about the Italian Renaissance asked her if she were able to write a historical romance series
in the style of Anne Golon's ‘Angélique’.
Benzoni affirmed, remembering her fascination for the ‘Order of the Golden Fleece’. Her research for that soon-to-become Bestseller took up three years and in 1963, 'Catherine, Il suffit d’un amour’ was published. The success was enormous and there followed in 1965, a Song called ‘Catherine, ma mie’ composed by Paul Amar, text by Juliette Benzoni.
The Catherine series was translated into 26 languages. Benzoni's Works includes: 3 Single Novels, 17 series, 18 self-contained short stories; 55 million Readers and 300 million books sold Worldwide. She was a huge fan of the books by Agatha Christie, Anne Perry and Ken Follet. In 1978 she received from the White House a letter by President ‘Ronald Reagan’ for the way she described in her Novel ‘The Lure of the Falcon’ the Independence War!
Four of her Bestsellers the ‘Catherine, Marianne, Le Gerfaut and La Florentine’ series were filmed for French television, for which she wrote the Screenplay, together with Jean Chatenet. Although her later works were not widely translated, in 1984, she was one of the top ten female French writers whose works were translated into English. Two weeks before her death in 2016, her last book ‘Le Vol du Sancy: Des carats pour Ava’? was published. It was the 15th adventure of her favourite hero Prince Aldo Morosini, a mystery series.
Her Awards and Honours:
1973 the Alexandre Dumas Prix, for the Catherine and Marianne series.
1988, the Prix Littéraire « Louis Barthou » Silver Medal from the Académie Française for Felicia au soleil couchant.
1998, the Chevalier of the National Order of Merit Medal, by Prime Minister Lionel Jospin.
Born 1920 in Paris and growing up in an upper-middle-class family. At the age of nine, she discovered her passion for history while looking at a photo of ‘Joan of Arc’. Benzoni studied at the Institut Catholique de Paris’, philosophy, law and literature. At the age of fifteen, her parents moved to Saint-Mandé where she lived until her death.
In 1941, she married a doctor from Dijon, and was soon mother of two children. During that period, she studied at the libraries of Dijon the History of the Dukes of Burgundy, where she stumbled on the Legend of the Order of the Golden Fleece, which would later inspire her for her Catherine series.
In 1950, her husband died and she went to Morocco, visiting relatives of her late husband and joined the editorial staff at a radio station and met her future husband, Colonel Count André Benzoni di Conza. They married in 1953, but because of the unstable political situation, she returned to Paris, while her husband was to join the 6th Regiment of Moroccan Spahis in Hué.
Back in Paris, she launched into journalism and worked for various Newspapers, Magazines and wrote for ‘Confidences’ historical articles and interviewed celebrities such as Jean Cocteau, Jean Marais, Erich von Stroheim and Maurice Chevalier.
In 1959, Gérald Gauthier, director of the Press Agency at Opéra Mundi, watched her in a popular television Quiz show and impressed by her historical knowledge about the Italian Renaissance asked her if she were able to write a historical romance series
in the style of Anne Golon's ‘Angélique’.
Benzoni affirmed, remembering her fascination for the ‘Order of the Golden Fleece’. Her research for that soon-to-become Bestseller took up three years and in 1963, 'Catherine, Il suffit d’un amour’ was published. The success was enormous and there followed in 1965, a Song called ‘Catherine, ma mie’ composed by Paul Amar, text by Juliette Benzoni.
The Catherine series was translated into 26 languages. Benzoni's Works includes: 3 Single Novels, 17 series, 18 self-contained short stories; 55 million Readers and 300 million books sold Worldwide. She was a huge fan of the books by Agatha Christie, Anne Perry and Ken Follet. In 1978 she received from the White House a letter by President ‘Ronald Reagan’ for the way she described in her Novel ‘The Lure of the Falcon’ the Independence War!
Four of her Bestsellers the ‘Catherine, Marianne, Le Gerfaut and La Florentine’ series were filmed for French television, for which she wrote the Screenplay, together with Jean Chatenet. Although her later works were not widely translated, in 1984, she was one of the top ten female French writers whose works were translated into English. Two weeks before her death in 2016, her last book ‘Le Vol du Sancy: Des carats pour Ava’? was published. It was the 15th adventure of her favourite hero Prince Aldo Morosini, a mystery series.
Her Awards and Honours:
1973 the Alexandre Dumas Prix, for the Catherine and Marianne series.
1988, the Prix Littéraire « Louis Barthou » Silver Medal from the Académie Française for Felicia au soleil couchant.
1998, the Chevalier of the National Order of Merit Medal, by Prime Minister Lionel Jospin.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 6, 2019
Predato u štampu :) Ovaj tom Hrvati nisu preveli (informacija za čitaoce iz Hrvatske)
December 28, 2011
Une bonne suite, le secret du prince Sant'Anna relève du plus total inattendu.
June 10, 2020
Le dénouement est un peu cliché mais cela reste toujours Benzoni. On arrive facilement au dernier livre sans ressentir qu'elle se répète. On découvre toujours des nouvelles intrigues, de nouveaux secrets. On ne s'ennuie pas.
October 24, 2021
I thought this would be the obligatory "trapped in a harem" instalment of the series, similar to Angelique and the Sultan/Angelique in Barbary or Catherine and a Time for Love, but it's not. A harem does feature, as the book opens with Marianne on her way to complete her diplomatic mission to the Sultana Nakshidil, a cousin of the Empress Josephine captured by pirates in her youth. There doesn't seem to be much evidence that the Sultana really was related to Josephine, but it was believed in the 19th century and played into Orientalist fantasies of white women in harems.
Marianne makes a good friend in the Sultana and gets help and advice on her current dilemma, her pregnancy by the man who kidnapped and raped her in the previous book. It's a distressing situation only resolved by her husband returning from the dead. I was pretty sure one of her husbands would return from the dead and fortunately it's the Prince Sant'Anna. In one of the best twists of the series, we finally discover his secret and why he is a recluse. Marianne agrees to keep the baby for his sake, but doesn't attempt to make the marriage work because as usual she's obsessed with rescuing her on/off lover, privateer Jason Beaufort.
There's not as much of Jason in this book, thankfully, because he's convalescing elsewhere for most of it, then he gets thrown into prison again. He is described as a highly controlled man of strict principles, but these are entirely informed attributes as he's a slave owner and former slave trader who behaves like a hormonal teen on steroids. His strict principles never apply to himself and don't stop him from committing arson in the last chapter. But enough of this tedious man. I am now officially Team MariAnna and hoping Marianne ditches Jason, but she hasn't much time to see the light as there's only one more book in the series.
I preferred the first half of the book, with the harem scenes, the dead husband reveal and Marianne becoming a mother, to the second half, where she takes off to Odessa in pursuit of Jason - the Prince having spirited the baby away to parts unknown in the mistaken belief that Marianne doesn't want to be involved with the child. In Odessa she immediately gets scammed by one Madame de Gachet, actually another returnee from the dead who was involved in the Affair of the Necklace and still dresses like it's the 1780s for some reason. Luckily Marianne's godfather, the Cardinal de Chazay, turns up and sorts everything out. He's undercover as an ordinary priest, but only has to show people the symbol on a ring he wears for them to quail and do his will. I thought he must be in SPECTRE, but Marianne concludes he's a Jesuit.
Marianne ends up in possession of a diamond implied to have come from the Queen's Necklace, which Chazay charges her to hand over to a minion who will come to her house in Paris in six months' time. She must do this to serve the Royalist cause, which is a bit awkward as Marianne is anything but a royalist and her primary concern is serving Napoleon's cause. She's discovered in Odessa that a key ally has betrayed him and she has to find him and warn him. So the last chapter sees the band, rather implausibly, back together, with Marianne, Jason and their various sidekicks heading to Moscow to find Napoleon.
Marianne makes a good friend in the Sultana and gets help and advice on her current dilemma, her pregnancy by the man who kidnapped and raped her in the previous book. It's a distressing situation only resolved by her husband returning from the dead. I was pretty sure one of her husbands would return from the dead and fortunately it's the Prince Sant'Anna. In one of the best twists of the series, we finally discover his secret and why he is a recluse. Marianne agrees to keep the baby for his sake, but doesn't attempt to make the marriage work because as usual she's obsessed with rescuing her on/off lover, privateer Jason Beaufort.
There's not as much of Jason in this book, thankfully, because he's convalescing elsewhere for most of it, then he gets thrown into prison again. He is described as a highly controlled man of strict principles, but these are entirely informed attributes as he's a slave owner and former slave trader who behaves like a hormonal teen on steroids. His strict principles never apply to himself and don't stop him from committing arson in the last chapter. But enough of this tedious man. I am now officially Team MariAnna and hoping Marianne ditches Jason, but she hasn't much time to see the light as there's only one more book in the series.
I preferred the first half of the book, with the harem scenes, the dead husband reveal and Marianne becoming a mother, to the second half, where she takes off to Odessa in pursuit of Jason - the Prince having spirited the baby away to parts unknown in the mistaken belief that Marianne doesn't want to be involved with the child. In Odessa she immediately gets scammed by one Madame de Gachet, actually another returnee from the dead who was involved in the Affair of the Necklace and still dresses like it's the 1780s for some reason. Luckily Marianne's godfather, the Cardinal de Chazay, turns up and sorts everything out. He's undercover as an ordinary priest, but only has to show people the symbol on a ring he wears for them to quail and do his will. I thought he must be in SPECTRE, but Marianne concludes he's a Jesuit.
Marianne ends up in possession of a diamond implied to have come from the Queen's Necklace, which Chazay charges her to hand over to a minion who will come to her house in Paris in six months' time. She must do this to serve the Royalist cause, which is a bit awkward as Marianne is anything but a royalist and her primary concern is serving Napoleon's cause. She's discovered in Odessa that a key ally has betrayed him and she has to find him and warn him. So the last chapter sees the band, rather implausibly, back together, with Marianne, Jason and their various sidekicks heading to Moscow to find Napoleon.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 18, 2023
Perhaps not the best of Benzoni's Marianne series, but still an enjoyable read.
September 13, 2010
Only one more left in the series, darn it.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews