Renée C. Vink Ordine dei libri (cronologico)

Spannende vijfsterren-thrillers van de Noorse schrijver Samuel Bjørk, met in de hoofdrollen inspecteur Holger Munch en zijn collega Mia Krüger Ik reis alleen Op het Noorse platteland wordt een zesjarig meisje gevonden, met een springtouw opgeknoopt aan een boom. Ze draagt vreemde poppenkleren en er hangt een vliegtuiglabel om haar nek met de tekst ik reis alleen. Als blijkt dat het land wordt geteisterd door een sluwe moordenaar, wordt Munchs speciale onderzoeksteam weer tot leven gewekt. De doodsvogel Een tienermeisje lijkt ritueel vermoord te zijn en Munch wordt op de zaak gezet. De bijdrage van zijn superrechercheur Mia Krüger is cruciaal, maar zij worstelt met zelfmoordneigingen en verslaving…

Based on the troubadour culture that rose in Provence during the High Middle Ages, this panoramic, absorbing novel beautifully creates an alternate version of the medieval world. The matriarchal, cultured land of Arbonne is rent by a feud between its two most powerful dukes, the noble troubador Bertran de Talair and Urte de Miraval, over long-dead Aelis, lover of one, wife of the other and once heir to the country's throne. To the north lies militaristic Gorhaut, whose inhabitants worship the militant god Corannos and are ruled by corrupt, womanizing King Ademar. His chief advisor, the high priest of Corannos, is determined to eradicate the worship of a female deity, whose followers live to the south. Into this cauldron of brewing disaster comes the mysterious Gorhaut mercenary Blaise, who takes service with Bertran and averts an attempt on his life. The revelation of Blaise's lineage and a claim for sanctuary by his sister-in-law sets the stage for a brutal clash between the two cultures. Intertwined is the tale of a young woman troubadour whose role suggests the sweep of the drama to come.

With this rich, masterfully written extravaganza of myth and magic, the internationally acclaimed author of THE FIONAVAR TAPESTRY trilogy has created an epic that will forever change the boundaries of fantasy fiction. Set in a beleaguered land caught in a web of tyranny, Tigana is the deeply moving story of a people struggling to be free. A people so cursed by the dark sorceries of the tyrant King Brandin that even the very name of their once beautiful land cannot be spoken or remembered. But not everyone has forgotten. A handful of men and women, driven by love, hope and pride, set in motion the dangerous quest for freedom and bring back to the world the lost brightness of an obliterated name: Tigana.

Benjamin Weaver is an outsider in eighteenth-century London: a Jew among Christians; a ruffian among aristocrats; a retired pugilist who, hired by London's gentry, travels through the criminal underworld in pursuit of debtors and thieves. In A CONSPIRACY OF PAPER, Weaver must investigate a crime of the most personal sort, involving the mysterious death of his estranged father, a notorious stockdealer. To find the answers, Weaver contends with a garrulous prostitute who knows too much about his past, estranged relatives who remind him of his alienation from the Jewish faith, and a group of powerful men in the world of finance who have disguised their business dealings with an intricate web of deception and violence. Relying on brains and brawn, Weaver uncovers the beginnings of a strange new economic order based on stock speculation - a way of life that poses great risk for investors, but real danger for Weaver and his family.

Lo sfondo della vicenda è una remota Britannia, dove un circolo di sacerdotesse della Grande Dea difende la tradizione druidica contro l'invadenza delle leggi romane. Nei pressi della foresta in cui le donne vivono, abita la figlia del capo dei Druidi, una giovane dotata di arcani poteri che la rendono degna di diventare vestale della Dea. Ma la ragazza ama appassionatamente il latino Gaius. È un amore travolgente e insieme angoscioso: dalla sua scelta può dipendere il destino della sua gente. Ma i sentimenti sembrano prevalere sulla ragione e sulla lealtà verso il suo popolo...

Provides insight into the question of how to deal with human suffering and death.