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Catherine #7
La Dame de Montsalvy
Catherine s'est vue obligée d'abandonner Arnaud de Montsalvy, gravement blessé, au camp du Damoiseau de Commercy. De son côté, elle est libérée de la puissante forteresse de Châteauvillain où elle s'était réfugiée, et voit enfin s'achever les longues heures de prostration et d'angoisse dans lesquelles l'avaient jetée les derniers événements de sa vie. Son souhait le plus profond est maintenant de retourner chez elle. Mais la route va être longue ! Pour sauver le roi René, captif, Catherine devra chercher sa voie vers des horizons inattendus : en Lorraine, au Luxembourg, en Flandres même. Mais elle craint d'y revoir celui qui l'a si follement aimée, Philippe, duc de Bourgogne. Que va-t-elle trouver, avant de pouvoir reprendre le seul chemin cher à son cœur : celui des montagnes d'Auvergne, celui de Montsalvy ?
345 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1978
5 people are currently reading
105 people want to read
About the author
Juliette Benzoni
304 books155 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 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 11, 2019
Dočekasmo i to... Serijal o Katarininim avanturama i ljubavima je priveden kraju, sedmi tom za nekoliko dana odlazi u štampu (a prvi delovi su trenutno na akciji, ko još nije kupio prve tomove)... Hrvatsko izdanje u prevodu ima samo prvih 5 tomova, poslednja dva nikada nisu prevedena... Pa prema tome, ko od čitalaca iz Hrvatske želi da sazna šta se dalje dešavalo sa Katarinom može nabaviti 6. i 7. tom srpskog izdanja... :)
July 23, 2021
Love this series. This series and the Angelique series by another author were the first romance novels I read as a teenager and even now, I still reread these series as often as I can.
October 24, 2013
Le dernier tome de cette saga historique époustouflante. Catherine et Arnaud vont beaucoup me manquer.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews