Massimo Ortelio Livres

Envoûtant, foisonnant, un roman magistral, dont la construction éblouissante entremêle intrigue présente et échos du passé. Par la lauréate du prix Pulitzer 2006, une oeuvre déjà culte outre-atlantique, portée par la modernité d'une voix inoubliable ; une énigme littéraire qui nous plonge au coeur des périodes les plus tragiques de l'histoire ; un vibrant plaidoyer en faveur de la tolérance et de la transmission. 1996. Quand Hanna, jeune Australienne, restauratrice passionnée de manuscrits anciens, apprend qu'on veut lui confier la célèbre Haggadah de Sarajevo, elle sent qu'il s'agit de la chance de sa vie. Plus à l'aise en compagnie des livres que de ses contemporains, elle part à la rencontre de ce précieux manuscrit hébreu, ressurgi des Balkans en ruine. Au fil de minuscules indices, Hanna va peu à peu percer les secrets de ceux qui ont tenu entre leurs mains cet ouvrage sacré. De la jeune adepte de la Kabbale qui le sauve de l'Inquisition espagnole, à l'intellectuel musulman qui le soustrait à la menace nazie, en passant par le censeur vénitien qui le fait échapper à l'autodafé, une odyssée flamboyante dont Hanna s'apprête à écrire une nouvelle page, qui va la mener de désillusions en découvertes, de reconstruction en amour naissant, sur les traces de sa propre histoire...

Nella primavera del 1888, dopo la morte della zia, Harriet Baxter, trentacinquenne nubile con una piccola rendita, decide di lasciare Londra per Glasgow. In un anno di fervore artistico, coincidente con l'Esposizione Internazionale, Harriet si immerge nella vita vibrante della città, attirata non tanto dai festeggiamenti quanto dalle strade affollate. Durante una passeggiata, soccorre una signora anziana, ricevendo in cambio un invito a casa dei Gillespie, una famiglia di modeste condizioni. Qui incontra Elspeth, la madre esuberante, Mabel, la figlia amareggiata, Kenneth, il figlio affascinante ma tormentato, e Annie, la moglie che lotta con le difficoltà quotidiane e una vocazione artistica irrisolta. Al centro di questo microcosmo c'è Ned Gillespie, un giovane pittore talentuoso ma in difficoltà, che colpisce profondamente Harriet. La sua convinzione di dover salvare Ned dalla povertà e dalla sua famiglia diventa una missione, trasformandosi in un'ossessione che porterà inevitabilmente a conseguenze tragiche. La determinazione di Harriet di liberare Ned dalla sua indigenza e dalle pressioni familiari segnerà il corso della sua vita e di quella del pittore, in un intreccio di destini che esplora il confine tra altruismo e ossessione.

Aux États-Unis, Massachusetts, 1660-1715. Installé avec une poignée de pionniers anglais sur les terres de Martha’s Vineyard, une île au large de Cap Cod, le pasteur John Mayfield, homme de foi et grand humaniste, s’est donné pour mission de repousser les frontières du paganisme et d’amener au calvinisme les tribus Wampanoag locales. Un jour, alors qu’elle explore l’île, Bethia, la fille du pasteur, croise le chemin du jeune Cheeshahteaumack. Une rencontre incongrue, premier pas vers une amitié aussi inébranlable que secrète. Curieuse, Bethia se laisse initier aux rites païens des Wampanoag. En échange, la jeune fille accepte d’enseigner l’anglais et les Saintes Écritures à son nouvel ami, qu’elle rebaptise Caleb. Mais lorsqu’une épidémie de variole emporte sa tribu, Caleb trouve refuge auprès de John Mayfield. Intrigué par sa formidable intelligence, le pasteur va faire de ce jeune Indien un modèle d’intégration et de conversion. Son obsession : l’envoyer à Harvard afin d’en faire le porte parole de Dieu. Dans l’ombre de Caleb, Bethia tente elle aussi de trouver un chemin pour dépasser sa condition de femme et assouvir sa soif de connaissance…

Dans les années 1810, sur la côte du Dorset, Mary Anning découvre ses premiers fossiles et se passionne pour ces "prodigieuses créatures" dont l'existence remet en question les théories sur la création du monde. Elle se heurte aux préjugés de la communauté scientifique, entièrement composée d'hommes, qui la confine dans un rôle de figuration. Elle trouve heureusement une alliée en la personne d'Elizabeth Philpot, vieille fille intelligente, qui l'accompagne dans ses explorations

FROM THE GLOBALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING 'A triumph... a brilliant idea carried out with confidence and brio and a deep love of an extraordinary city. The ingenuity of the time-skipping is beyond admiration' PHILIP PULLMAN 'Spellbinding.... Chevalier at her fabulous best. A rich, vivid and gently enchanting novel' ELIF SHAFAK Venice, 1486. Across the lagoon lies Murano. Time flows differently here - like the glass the island's maestros spend their lives learning to handle. Women are not meant to work with glass, but Orsola Rosso flouts convention to save her family from ruin. She works in secret, knowing her creations must be perfect to be accepted by men. But perfection may take a lifetime. Skipping like a stone through the centuries, we follow Orsola as she hones her craft through war and plague, tragedy and triumph, love and loss. The beads she creates will adorn the necks of empresses and courtesans from Paris to Vienna - but will she ever earn the respect of those closest to her? Tracy Chevalier is a master of her own craft, and The Glassmaker is vivid, inventive, spellbinding: a virtuoso portrait of a woman, a family and a city that are as everlasting as their glass.

"One life-changing summer Charlie meets Fran... In 1997, Charlie Lewis is the kind of boy you don't remember in the school photograph. His exams have not gone well. At home he is looking after his father, when surely it should be the other way round, and if he thinks about the future at all, it is with a kind of dread. Then Fran Fisher bursts into his life and despite himself, Charlie begins to hope. But if Charlie wants to be with Fran, he must take on a challenge that could lose him the respect of his friends and require him to become a different person. He must join the Company. And if the Company sounds like a cult, the truth is even more appalling. The price of hope, it seems, is Shakespeare."--Publisher description

NATIONAL BESTSELLER It’s 1893, and at the Chicago World’s Fair, Louis Comfort Tiffany makes his debut with a luminous exhibition of innovative stained-glass windows that he hopes will earn him a place on the international artistic stage. But behind the scenes in his New York studio is the freethinking Clara Driscoll, head of his women’s division, who conceives of and designs nearly all of the iconic leaded-glass lamps for which Tiffany will long be remembered. Never publicly acknowledged, Clara struggles with her desire for artistic recognition and the seemingly insurmountable challenges that she faces as a professional woman. She also yearns for love and companionship, and is devoted in different ways to five men, including Tiffany, who enforces a strict policy: He does not employ married women. Ultimately, Clara must decide what makes her happiest—the professional world of her hands or the personal world of her heart.

From the bestelling author of GIRL IN HYACINTH BLUE, "A vivid exploration of one of the most beloved Renoir paintings in the world, done with a flourish worthy of Renoir himself" (USA Today) With her richly textured novels, Susan Vreeland has offered pioneering portraits of artists' lives. As she did in Girl in Hyacinth Blue, Vreeland focuses on a single painting, Auguste Renoir's instantly recognizable masterpiece, which depicts a gathering of Renoir's real friends enjoying a summer Sunday on a café terrace along the Seine. Narrated by Renoir and seven of the models, the novel illuminates the gusto, hedonism, and art of the era. With a gorgeous palette of vibrant, captivating characters, Vreeland paints their lives, loves, losses, and triumphs so vividly that "the painting literally comes alive" (The Boston Globe).

À Ferrare, au couvent de Santa Catarina, nombreuses sont les jeunes filles nobles mariées au Christ à défaut de dot. Tel est le sort de Serafina, seize ans à peine, enfermée de force par sa famille suite à sa liaison avec un simple chanteur. Insoumise, Serafina se heurte bientôt à l'ordre établi par l'abbesse Chiara et à la piété exacerbée de sœur Umiliana, prête à affamer le corps des novices pour libérer leur esprit... Isolée parmi les nonnes cloîtrées en proie à d'étranges extases mystiques, la jeune rebelle peut compter sur la bienveillance de Zuana, une nonne érudite, qui soigne tous les maux du couvent, y compris les blessures que les sœurs s'infligent à elles-mêmes. Mais jusqu'où est-elle prête à l'aider ? Tandis que les forces de la Contre-Réforme grondent au-dehors pour durcir les règles en vigueur dans les couvents, Serafina va tout tenter pour s'enfuir. Le début de guerres intestines qui vont bouleverser la vie des sœurs à jamais...

Biochimiste de 54 ans, Douglas Petersen imagine déjà sa retraite auprès de Connie, sa femme artiste, dans leur maison londonienne. Mais celle-ci lui apprend brusquement qu’elle n’est plus certaine de l’aimer. Pathologiquement maladroit et réservé, Douglas va devoir déployer toute son énergie pour reconquérir sa femme et tenter de tisser des liens avec cet inconnu qu’est devenu son fils adolescent. Douglas entraîne alors sa famille sur les traces de leur passé, dans un tour très balisé de l’Europe. Qu’est ce qui pourrait mal tourner ?

A set of bewitching medieval tapestries hangs today in a protected chamber in Paris. They appear to portray a woman's seduction of a unicorn, but the story behind their making is unknown - until now. Paris, 1490. A shrewd French nobleman commissions six lavish tapestries celebrating his rising status at Court. He hires the charismatic, arrogant, sublimely talented Nicolas des Innocents to design them. Nicolas creates havoc among the women in the house - mother and daughter, servant and lady-in-waiting - before taking his designs north to the Brussels workshop where the tapestries are to be woven. There, master-weaver Georges de la Chapelle risks everything he has on finishing the tapestries - his finest, most intricate work - on time for his exacting French client. Ill-prepared for temptation and seduction, he and his family are consumed by the project and by their dealings with the hot-blooded painter from Paris. The results change all their lives - lives that have been captured in the tapestries, for those who know where to look.

Apres un revers sentimental, Honor fuit les regards compatissants des membres de sa communauté quaker. Elle s’embarque pour les États-Unis avec sa sour, Grace, qui doit rejoindre son fiancé. A l’éprouvante traversée s’ajoute bientôt une autre épreuve : la mort de Grace, emportée par la fievre jaune. Honor décide néanmoins de poursuivre son voyage jusqu’a Faithwell, une petite bourgade de l’Ohio. C'est dans cette Amérique encore sauvage et soumise aux lois esclavagistes, contre lesquelles les quakers s’insurgent, qu’elle va essayer de se reconstruire. Portrait intime de l’éclosion d’une jeune femme, témoignage précieux sur la vie des quakers et le «chemin de fer clandestin» – ce réseau de routes secretes des esclaves en fuite –, La derniere fugitive confirme la maîtrise romanesque de l’auteur du best-seller La jeune fille a la perle.

It is 1932, and the losses of the First World War are still keenly felt. Violet Speedwell, mourning for both her fiance and her brother and regarded by society as a 'surplus woman' unlikely to marry, resolves to escape her suffocating mother and strike out alone. A new life awaits her in Winchester. Yes, it is one of draughty boarding-houses and sidelong glances at her naked ring finger from younger colleagues; but it is also a life gleaming with independence and opportunity. Violet falls in with the broderers, a disparate group of women charged with embroidering kneelers for the Cathedral, and is soon entwined in their lives and their secrets. As the almost unthinkable threat of a second Great War appears on the horizon Violet collects a few secrets of her own that could just change everything... Warm, vivid and beautifully orchestrated, A Single Thread reveals one of our finest modern writers at the peak of her powers.

There is a fine line between coincidence and fate... In London 1799, Dora Blake is an aspiring jewellery artist who lives with her uncle in what used to be her parents' famed shop of antiquities. When a mysterious Greek vase is delivered, Dora is intrigued by her uncle's suspicious behaviour and enlists the help of Edward Lawrence, a young man seeking acceptance into the Society of Antiquaries. Edward sees the ancient vase as key to unlocking his academic future. Dora sees it as a chance to restore her parents' shop to its former glory, and to escape her uncle. But what Edward discovers about the vase has Dora questioning everything she has ever known, about her life, her family and the world as she knows it. As Dora uncovers the truth she starts to realise that some mysteries are buried, and some doors are locked, for a reason. Gorgeously atmospheric and deliciously page-turning, Pandora deals with themes of secrets and deception, love and fulfilment, fate and hope.

In un villaggio della Francia meridionale, durante la seconda metà del Cinquecento, la prima neve dell'inverno ricopre la terra. Sotto un cielo grigio, la chiesa emerge con il suo manto candido. Monsieur Marcel, il predicatore calvinista, ha appena finito il suo sermone e, con passo deciso, si allontana, lasciando dietro di sé un fervore di cambiamento. La folla, ansiosa di purificare la chiesa, è guidata da Etienne Tournier, giovane della famiglia che possiede l'unica Bibbia del villaggio. Con un rastrello in mano, Etienne guarda minacciosamente la statuetta della Vergine col Bambino, mentre i suoi occhi si incrociano con quelli di Isabelle du Moulin, la Rossa. Ricordi di un passato innocente affiorano: Isabelle, da bambina, osservava il padre di Etienne dipingere l'edicola di un azzurro brillante. Da quel momento, il suo soprannome è diventato una maledizione, amplificata dall'arrivo di Monsieur Marcel. Quando il predicatore scompare, Isabelle, infuocata da una nuova determinazione, distrugge la statuetta, segnando la fine della sua fanciullezza e l'inizio del suo destino. Secoli dopo, Ella Turner, un'americana tormentata da un sogno, si ritrova tra le Cévennes per scoprire il mistero legato ai Tournier-Turner. Questa opera prima rivela il talento di Tracy Chevalier nel ritrarre epoche storiche e i tumultuosi pensieri umani.

A darkly humorous and intriguing story of one woman's journey from a difficult past into an even more disturbing present.

From the author of the bestselling The Essex Serpent comes a darkly inventive and deeply moving novel that speaks urgently to our times.

Liv ha trascorso i suoi primi tre anni a Oslo, ma non ricorda nulla di quel periodo. La sua vita è legata a Kvaløya, un'isola nel circolo polare artico, scelta da sua madre, pittrice, per rifugiarsi e dipingere. Vivono in una baita grigia affacciata sul fiordo di Malangen, in un luogo isolato, ad eccezione della casa e della hytte di Kyrre Opdahl, un rifugio usato in passato per la caccia. Qui, il tempo sembra scorrere diversamente, intriso di leggende che raccontano di eventi sinistri. Kyrre narra storie di ragazzi che, tornati da una notte di pesca, portano con sé una presenza inquietante. Nella tradizione popolare, i troll sono mostri e la huldra è una fata seducente, ma Kyrre percepisce queste entità come forze maligne legate a eventi reali. Liv, pur affascinata dai racconti, non crede in tali forze. Tuttavia, l'estate del suo diciottesimo compleanno porta eventi tragici che mettono in discussione le sue convinzioni. Mats e Harald Sigfridsson, due fratelli inseparabili, muoiono in circostanze misteriose dopo una notte di festa. Le loro morti, insieme a quella di Marti Crosbie, inquietano Kvaløya e colpiscono profondamente Liv, soprattutto quando osserva Kyrre e Maia svanire nel nulla, lasciando solo polvere dietro di sé. In quest'opera, l'autore esplora la fusione di follia, mistero e mito con una scrittura magistrale.

Lambeth, London, 1859. By the time Dora Damage discovers that there is something wrong with her husband, Peter, it is too late. His arthritic hands are crippled, putting his book-binding business into huge debt and his family in danger of entering the poorhouse. Summoning her courage, Dora proves that she is more than just a housewife and mother. Taking to the streets, she resolves to rescue her family at any price-and finds herself lured into illegally binding expensive volumes of pornography commissioned by aristocrats. Then, when a mysterious fugitive slave arrives at her door, Dora realises she's entangled in a web of sex, money, deceit and the law. Now the very family she fought so hard for is under threat from a host of new, more dangerous foes. Belinda Starling's debut novel is a startling vision of Victorian London, juxtaposing its filth and poverty with its affluence. In Dora Damage we meet a daring young heroine, struggling in a very modern way against the constraints of the day, and whose resourcefulness and bravery has us rooting for her all the way.

Flames and funerals, circus feats and seduction, neighbours and nakedness: Tracy Chevalier's novel Burning Bright sparkles with drama. London 1792. The Kellaways move from familiar rural Dorset to the tumult of a cramped, unforgiving city. They are leaving behind a terrible loss, a blow that only a completely new life may soften. Against the backdrop of a city jittery over the increasingly bloody French Revolution, a surprising bond forms between Jem, the youngest Kellaway boy, and streetwise Londoner Maggie Butterfield. Their friendship takes a dramatic turn when they become entangled in the life of their neighbour, the printer, poet and radical, William Blake. He is a guiding spirit as Jem and Maggie navigate the unpredictable, exhilarating passage from innocence to experience. Their journey inspires one of Blake's most entrancing works. Georgian London is recreated as vividly in Burning Bright as 17th-century Delft was in Tracy Chevalier's bestselling masterpiece, Girl with a Pearl Earring.

At the centre of this intriguing, irresistible novel are the young Lambs: Charles, constrained by the tedium of his work as a clerk at the East India Company, taking refuge in a drink or three too many while spreading his wings as a young writer, and his clever, adoring sister Mary, confined by domesticity, an ailing, dotty father and a maddening mother- Into their lives comes William Ireland, an ambitious 17-year-old antiquarian and bookseller, anxious not only to impress his demanding showman of a father, but to make his mark on the literary world. When Ireland turns up a document in the handwriting of Shakespeare himself, he takes Mary into his confidence - but soon scholars and actors alike are beating a path to the little bookshop in Holborn Passage. Touching and tragic, ingenious, funny and vividly alive, this is Ackroyd at the top of his form in a masterly retelling of a nineteenth-century drama which keeps the reader guessing right to the end.