« It is the best Benzoni, heiress - voluntary or not - to Alexandre Dumas. Novel of Cape & Dagger, at the Court of France, under the reign of Henry IV and Marie de Médici. » [ Le Bulletin des Lettres ]

 

 

Synopsis : The red Fleur-de-Lys dagger (Plon 2010)

She is an orphan.
She was raised in a convent.
She is the heiress to a great fortune and goddaughter of the Queen of France, Marie de Médici.

Her fate changes when her charming fiancé, Vittorio Strozzi, is murdered the day before the wedding by means of a dagger with a note: anyone who claims to marry the girl will die in the same way.

When the Queen of France is threatened with repudiation by Henry IV, overwhelmed by her ugly character and her crazy expenses, she asks her rich goddaughter for help. Lorenza accepts. She must win for the Queen's cause the oldest friend and adviser of Henry IV, the Marquis Hector of Sarrance. But how?  By marrying his son Antoine.

But Antoine is in love with a maid of honour of the Queen and does not want to marry Lorenza. It is therefore his father who will marry the beautiful Florentine since his son is not free... Until the day Lorenza is presented to the Court and Antoine, when he sees her, falls in love at first sight.

As a result passions, intrigues and murders will be unleashed.

Synopsis : The knife of Ravaillac (Plon 2010)

Despite the serious threats to his union with Lorenza, Thomas de Courcy has no intention of giving up on the young woman. Their marriage gives rise to a beautiful celebration barely disturbed by the order given to the bridegroom by the king, to join him immediately.yet is it a trap unknown to him. Now in the fiery arms of Thomas, passionately in love, Lorenza, amazed, finally discovers love.

After a few days of absolute happiness, the couple must unfortunately return to reality. War is about to break out. All for King Henri IV's passion of the moment for the beautiful eyes of  young Charlotte de Montmorency, wife of Condé who took her to the Netherlands.

Three gentlemen, including Thomas, have the task of kidnapping the lady before the French troops attack Brussels. In Paris, the coronation of Marie de Médici is being prepared, to which the King has consented despite the dark presentiments this awokes: a strange red-haired man, dressed in green, whom Lorenza once met, is already wandering in town...

The day after his wife's coronation, Henry IV was murdered. Did Ravaillac's knife, by taking the life of the sovereign, also destroy the happiness of Lorenza and Thomas?

♣ In the France Loisirs Edition from 2011, we find once again a personal dedication by Juliette Benzoni to her faithful readers of the France Loisirs Book Club.



♥« I would be delighted if my 'The red fleur-de-lys dagger' characters win the friendship of the Club's readers ». ℐℬ

The Large-Print editions by V.B.D



Editions Pocket published 2011 & 2012 the Lorenza Saga.

In 2013. Plon published the series in Kindle format, with the same cover.

♣ Le Grand Livre du Mois, Le Grand caractères V.B.D also published the two Novels.

♣ The series has also been translated in the following countries : 



The Hungarian Editions


 
The Czech-Republic Editions



The Russian Editions 
 

♥ As we learned from Juliette herself on one of our visits, she would have preferred for the Book Covers, the paintings by Dante Gabriel Rossetti for her series Le Bal des Poignards that of 'The Lady Lilith'.

♥ « I would be delighted if my 'The red fleur-de-lys dagger' characters win the friendship of the Club's readers ». ℐℬ
 
♥ In May 2010, great honour for Juliette Benzoni ! Once again a book of hers La Dague au Lys Rouge had been chosen for Le Grand Livre du Mois (The Great Book of the Month)

An article about Juliette Benzoni which I have translated from French.The author is talking about her new book La Dague au Lys Rouge in 2010. My personal wish, that this excellent mini series will be translated into English and especially Italian...!. The story begins in Florence and then France, where we meet many historical characters like Queen Marie de Medici and her husband, the famous Henri IV, called also The Green Galant (because of his many mistresses !) or The Good King. Linda, webmaster

Review in 'Le Club de L'Actualité Littéraire'

Once again, Juliette Benzoni offers us a novel of Cloak and Dagger that will give us delicious shivers! Lorenza, illegitimate child of the Medicis, was sent from Florence to Paris to marry the son of an old companion of Henry IV. In fact, she is handed over to the father, who undertakes to rape her. She is saved in extremis by a dagger: a curse threatened to all her future suitors that their throats shall be slit before reaching their ends. Arrested, submitted to the question, trapped between the Machiavellian Florentines and French justice, Lorenza can only rely on the proverbial generosity of good King Henry... A superb account of adventures at the court of 'The Green Galant' !
 

The translated interview by Linda, webmaster

Was it Ravaillac's knife that led you to set your novel during the reign of Henri IV ?

Juliette Benzoni: Yes, to a certain extent. Henri IV is one of the greatest kings France has ever known, and he did an enormous amount of good in a country ravaged by the Wars of Religion. I'd even go so far as to say that he would have been a perfect sovereign if he hadn't been so interested in the ladies! But the queen is another matter. You know, I didn't invent anything - real historians paint Marie de Médicis in a less than flattering light...

Did you invent this story about a young girl who came to marry the son, only to find herself forcibly married to the father?

Juliette Benzoni: Not at all! I'll give you just one example: Henry II of England found the princess he wanted for his son Richard the Lionheart very to his liking, and he kept her for himself! He lived with her!

Despite all the crimes and conspiracies you describe, the reader gets a sense of good humour from reading you...

Juliette Benzoni: Maybe I'm the one who brings the good humour! You know, I don't think you can tell a horror story without adding a bit of humour. Basically, my aim has always been to teach my readers a bit about French history, while amusing them at the same time.

♣ « It is the best Benzoni, Heiress - voluntary or not - to Alexandre Dumas. Novel of cape & dagger, at the Court of France, under the reign of Henry IV and Marie de Médici »
[ Le Bulletin des Lettres ]

♣ As rich in history, intrigue and sentiment as ever, this second volume will enchant all fans of the queen of French historical fiction.
[ L'Est-Éclair ]

With her talent as a narrator, Juliette Benzoni plunges us back into a troubled but rich era, and into the life of her endearing main character.
[ Le Littéraire.com ]
 

[ Creation © Hélène Rouillé ]

I would like to thank my friend Hélène for this magnificent creation. It is her tribute to Juliette Benzoni's book la Dague au Lys Rouge. Her text on this creation is taken from the first of the two books: 'The red fleur-de-lys dagger'.

Chapter: The sky had fallen...

text chosen by Linda, webmaster

She's very young, very beautiful and rich! That's why they are killing her!
Respect to death! said another.
(--)

And there was silence, troubled only by the creaking of the wheels and the slow beat, haunting and heavy as that of an anguished heart...

When she reached the scaffold, straight and proud, she took a firm step towards the executor who, as he approached, put one knee in the ground to obtain her forgiveness.
I have nothing to forgive you for," she says. But couldn't my hands be untied so I could reach them?

He nodded with a blink of his eyelids, took a knife from his belt and cut the rope. She asked to incur:
Do you have to cut my braid ?

No. It will be enough if the neck is clear.....
That's why I'm going to have to cut the collar of your dress....

At that moment, the rue de la Boucherie burst into a huge noise that covered the bell tower: a horseman screaming "get out of the way! His lungs were almost bursting as he rushed through the crowd, which opened instinctively. At a gallop, he rode straight to the scaffold, jumped off his horse in vaulting and climbed the ladder four at a four:
Do not touch that lady, executioner! I am Thomas, Baron de Courcy and I want to marry her! And, by God, I swear she's innocent!

[ Creation © Evelyne Diggelmann-Walther ]

♦ Girl with Cherries ♦ © Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York attributed to Giovanni Ambrogio de Predis (artist in Leonardo da Vinci's circle)

In Le Bal des Poignards our heroine Lorenza Davanzati is described as a beautiful girl with « large black eyes and golden reddish hair ». On a visit to the Metropolitan Museum in New York 2013, I was attracted by this painting called Girl with Cherries. My sister later on surprised me with this magnificent Artwork above. Linda, webmaster.