Michael Stolle

The year is 1640, and Louis XIII is on the French throne. However, as far as you're concerned, this is all pretty meaningless. After all, as a teenage orphan living in a monastery school in Reims, all you have to worry about is dodging the unpleasant advances of a few unsavoury monks and looking forward to a life of penniless and celibate servitude in a religious order. After a childhood and adolescence plagued by a constant longing to know who he really is, orphan Pierre has not the slightest idea that his questions are about to be answered. But you know what they say - be careful what you wish for... Suddenly finding out who you are can bring with it not only happiness and fortune, but danger, friendship and the sort of swift education that the monastery could never have provided! The discovery of who Pierre really is affects not only Pierre and his friends, but has ramifications for the French nobility, the English crown, and most dangerous of all, the machinations of Cardinal Richelieu and his fierce ambition for the Church and for himself. [This is a revised, second edition]

The French Orphan

The Secrets of Montrésor is the eagerly awaited sequel to The French Orphan, and continues the story of young Pierre de Beauvoir... Coming into a fortune at any age brings huge responsibility, but when you're an inexperienced teenager, it seems that surprises are waiting for you around every corner. Pierre, former orphan and now Marquis de Beauvoir, may have claimed his inheritance, but life is never that simple. For a start, he needs to learn pretty quickly exactly who to trust and who to keep at arm's length. For example, how do you work out (and survive....) the changing motives of the most powerful man in seventeenth-century France, Cardinal Richelieu? And then what do you do when the people you should be able to trust try to deliver you into the hands of your worst enemy? And then there's the small matter of a sacred quest to Italy... Fortunately for Pierre he has his best friend Armand to support him as he gets to know his chateau at Montrésor, its people and - its secrets. (Armand, of course, has his own agendas to pursue, usually involving a pretty face and a willing smile.) Far from being certain, Pierre's future has yet to be settled and Pierre will have to draw on his own innate talents as well as those of the people around him to ensure he survives, as his enemies are just waiting to seize their opportunity. [This is a revised, second edition]

The Secrets of Montrésor

The third in the French Orphan series follows the exploits of Pierre, former penniless orphan who discovers he is heir to the de Beauvoir inheritance. So far, Pierre has found friends in unexpected places, been surprised by love, learned the true meaning of friendship, discovered the extent of human cunning and depravity and dodged numerous attempts by his closest family member to despatch him to the next world.In Under the Spell of the Serenissima Pierre's search for the third Templar ring continues, but as ever, his path is not a smooth one. Pierre and Armand, along with Jean and Edoardo, are making for Venice, unaware that others too are racing towards the beautiful city, some intending to help, others with far more sinister motives.As the various characters are drawn inexorably towards Venice, a conclusion will be played out that must decide Pierre's fate, one way or another...

Under the Spell of the Serenissima

Carsten Dams

Draws on the latest research to present a history of the Gestapo, from its creation during the Weimar Republic to the fate of its officers after World War II, and unravel the truths and mysteries behind its rule.

Michael Stolle

About

Books

Join the club