SUMMARY:
Beautiful, dark-haired Marianne d'Asselnat fled England, leaving her dastardly husband for dead in the blazing ruins of what had been their home. In France her beauty and wit won the heart of the Emperor himself, Napoleon Bonaparte, and under his patronage she found a place in Parisian society and a new career as an opera singer. But on the very night of her debut, she is terrified by a face in the audience - the scarred face of Francis Cranmere, the husband she believed dead.

In desperation Marianne seeks someone to protect her from Francis' insane lust for revenge. But there is no one. Even Napoleon seems to slip away from her after his marriage to Marie-Louise of Austria.
So Marianne must once more venture into the unknown: to Italy and the magnificent villa of the Tuscan prince whose face no one has ever seen; a villa haunted by some strange, nameless evil...

SUMMARY :
Marianne, now the Princess Sant'Anna following her strange Italian marriage, returns to Paris to find Napoleon settled in almost bourgeois comfort into his marriage with Maria Theresa and her old foe Fouché discredited and exiled from the Ministry of Police following a scandal. Then at a festive ball attended by all of imperial society she rediscovers, in the midst of soaring flames, her true love.

There follow seemingly unending struggles against all manner of foes - a time when men who love often prove more dangerous than those who hate. A malevolent plot threatens the one man to capture her heart - Jason Beaufort, he who seeks adventure in the four corners of the world. It is a well-concealed trap, all the more dangerous because it is intimately concerned with Napoleon himself. Bound by their love, but forced apart by the exigencies of life, Marianne and Jason find the means to defeat the forces unleashed against them. But when justice finally strikes, it threatens to destroy their love along with their enemies.

In the dazzling Paris of Napoleon's Empire at the height of his power, in the sleepy calm of the country estate where Talleyrand nurses his rheumatism, it the morning mists of country farms and the depths of Breton fogs, Marianne each day learns a little more of the hard facts of life.

SUMMARY :
As the city of Florence basks in afternoon sunlight, pleasurable anticipation stirs in the heart of beautiful Marianne d'Asselnat, Princess San'Anna. The trials and uncertainties of her eventual past life seem almost over, for she is soon to rejoin her beloved sea rover Jason Beaufort and enjoy with him a peaceful future in America.

So she is not particularly dismayed when called upon to render a last vital service to her master, the Emperor Napoleon, whom once she had known as lover and still called friend. But, abruptly, an ominous shadow appears in her future, cast by the dark influence of her unseen husband, the mysterious masked Prince Corrado. The tricks of fate then force her to embark on a perilous odyssey which carries her from luxurious Venice, through Greek islands smoldering with revolt, to the court of the legendary Sultans of the Ottoman Empire.

Through all her adventures her spirit is sustained by her passionate love for Jason, yet always strange, dark forces seem intent on drawing him away from her...

SUMMARY :
Seated beneath the red silk canopy in the stern of the royal barge as it skims across the smooth waters of the Bosphorus, Marianna, now the Princess Sant' Anna, sets forth on her most perilous adventure. Her former lover, Napoleon Bonaparte, has sent her to seek out the legendary Sultana, the Queen Mother of the Ottoman Empire, who is French born and the Empress Josephine's cousin, and enlist her help in bringing Turkish help in France's still-secret forthcoming invasion of Russia.

In exotic Constantinople, Marianne is pulled deeper and deeper into political and emotional turmoil's. For the mysterious masked Prince whom she had married but thought dead is very much alive. And her true love, the American Jason Beaufort, lies wounded and in peril of his life while his stalwart ship, The Sea Witch, is threatened with destruction.

SUMMARY :
Guarding with her life the secret she carries to save Napoleon, Marianne braves the barren steppes and hostile natives of Russia to deliver her message to the Emperor, who was once her lover. She is accompanied by her lover from New Orleans, Jason Beaufort, who has abandoned the charred hulk of his ship in the harbor of Constantinople to travel with her. Just inside the Russian border, they save the life of a beautiful young gypsy named Shankhala and take her with them. Shankhala offers no gratitude but shows a burning desire for Jason. Failing to allure him, she turns her witchery against Marianne.

The Moscow they reach has already fallen under siege, and its citizens' fear has turned perversely into self-immolation. When Jason is thrown in prison after a duel with the Cossack who several years earlier had ravished and branded Marianne, she is left alone amid the swarming mass of panicked humanity-or rather almost alone, as the gypsy witch embraces Marianne, then stabs her and leaves her to be trampled and swept away by the maddened throng.

Moscow is drowned in a sea of fire and Marianne nursed to health by angels in the forms of other French women trapped in this hostile country. Risking her life to see him, Marianne finds Napoleon suffering from strain and despair and eager to regain Marianne's devotion. Once she has delivered her message, Marianne's life again becomes a series of questions: Will she ever return to her homeland? Will she ever find the child who was separated from her? And her husband, where is he?

Cover reveal for the first two re-issued
'Marianne' Novels 2023

JULIETTE BENZONI'S NEW NOVEL 1969
French original Cover

Text translated by Linda, webmaster

Born during the Terror, Marianne-Élisabeth d'Asselnat de Villeneuve, whose parents died on the scaffold, owed her life only to the devotion of her Godfather, the abbot Gauthier de Chazay, who, at the cost of a thousand perils, brought her to England to her aunt, Ellis Selton, her only family. Marianne's entire childhood was spent in the luxurious atmosphere of a large estate in 'Devon'. But that childhood came to an end the day Ellis Selton died. A few days later, Marianne, at her behest, marries the handsome Francis Cranmere with whom she is secretly in love. And it is on the night of this longed-for wedding, however, that Marianne's fate is sealed.

By what strange path will 'Marianne d'Asselnat' reach the master of Europe? How will she become for Napoleon his soon to be indispensable star? This is the secret of a book which, throughout its pages, unfolds the splendour of the « Empire at its peak », the mysterious workings of politics and the strange ways of the 'Parisian' underworld. Faced with the love that her beauty arouses - and with intrigues, Marianne will have to find her way among the most fearsome men of her time, Fouché, Talleyrand and above all the Emperor !

The fire of the ancient blood of Auvergne and the unrelenting tenacity of her English descent united in her to produce all the warlike qualities of those other women from whose line she came who had studded history with their loves, their passions and their vengeances. Agnès de Ventadour, who had turned Crusader to be revenged on a faithless lover, Catherine de Montsalvy who had risked death a hundred times, for the husband she loved. Isabelle de Montsalvy, her daughter, who had fought her way to happiness through the horrors of the 'Wars of the Roses'. Lucrèce de Gadagne wielding a sword like a man to win back her castle of Tourneol. Sidonia d'Asselnat who had fought like a man yet loved like a woman during the Fronde...

The first Novel of the Marianne series is dedicated to one of Juliette's best friends 'Colette and Robert-André Vivien' (he was a member of the Parliament for Saint-Mandé, a street at Saint-Mandé/France carries his name)


THE PRESS AND THE MARIANNE SERIES



They neglect popular writers...
Extract from a French article 1969 by J.P. Grey-Draillard
translated by Linda Compagnoni Walther, webmaster

LUNCH at the « Western » Restaurant in the basement of the Hilton Hotel, between Juliette Benzoni, author of « Marianne, une étoile pour Napoléon » (1) and Mrs Robert André Vivien, wife of the Secretary of State for Equipment and Housing.

They tend to neglect « popular writers,» she tells me. 'That doesn't stop me from reaching copies of more than 100,000 in France (for the "Catherine" series in particular).'« In the United States », each of my books has sold over 600,000 copies. In addition, my books are translated so far into 16 other languages.'
nota: see my Book cover page for the exact number of Countries who published the Catherine and Marianne Novels - and still do ! Linda webmaster




In 1974 the French Newspaper 'France-soir' started to publish in form of a Cliffhanger the last of the Marianne adventures: 'Marianne and the Crown of Fire'

The English Press in 1969



Article in the English Newspaper 'Guardian Journal' on November 26, 1969, introducing the first of the 'Marianne Novels' published by 'Heinemann Ltd.' We observe with pleasure, the same year as the French's first edition 'Marianne, une étoile pour Napoléon' by Éditions Trévise. Years later Publisher 'Pan books' would divide the first volume into two books : 1. 'Marianne the Bride of Selton Hall', 2. 'Marianne : The Eagle and the Nightingale'.

From the medieval saga of Catherine, Countess Benzoni turns to another heroine. Marianne d'Asselnat, the beauti ful daughter of French aristocrats who die under the guillotine during the Terror, is smuggled out of France to England. At the age of 17, she is married to Francis Cranmere who, on his wedding night, gambles away her fortune and her estates and her virtue. She returns to France where her beauty and her singing launch her into the dazzling world of Napoleon's court, and she becomes a victim of the fascination of the Emperor. This is projected as the first of a new series. 

PRIX ALEXANDRE DUMAS 1973



Juliette received in 1973 for 'her entire oeuvre' (amongst others, the 'Catherine' and 'Marianne' series) the Prix Alexandre Dumas.

QUOTES :



The quote above is from the book Marianne a star for Napoleon (1969)
Nota: The author also loved to sip a sparling glass of Champagne. ☺




Juliette Benzoni presents to the Press in 1971  'Marianne: Jason des quatre mers' (Marianne and the Privateer).




Juliette signing her first two bestsellers: « The Catherine and Marianne Saga » at a bookstore in Paris ca.1974




Juliette in a Library in Paris signing a new adventure of 'Marianne'. She was accompanied by Gérald Gauthier, the man who discovered Juliette. It had been Gauthier who asked her the day after he had seen her on television in the popular « Le Gros Lot » (Cultural Game in Association with the National Lottery Show) 1959 (and been impressed by her knowledge of the 'Italian Renaissance'), if she were able to write a Series just like 'Anne Golon'  with the 'Angélique Novels! It had been Opéra Mundi who published those books in the Fifties & Sixties - and they aimed to build on the previous successes with a new series...! Her answer? « Indeed I would have an idea »... (and that was the birth of the Catherine Novels...)

 

1972 edition Artwork 'Alan Lee'

The Illustrator for the Heinemann hardcover Edition 'Marianne and the Privateer' was none other than 'Alan Lee' who worked for 'Peter Jackson' and the Universe of 'Lord of the Rings'. More details will follow... I have written to the Artist by postal, but I am sure he is a very busy man... but one must never give up hope...

Copertina di Fulvio Bianconi©Archivio Fulvio Bianconi



1972 Edition by Garzanti.it
What we see above is the first Italian hardcover Edition for 'Marianne e lo sconosciuto toscano' (second volume) by Maestro Fulvio Bianconi, published 1972 by Garzanti.it 

I am very honoured to have the exceptional permission by the « Fulvio Bianconi©Archivio Fulvio Bianconi », to show some of the Cover Artwork by distinguished 'Maestro Fulvio Bianconi' – in this case his illustrations for the MARIANNE and Catherine Novels, published by Garzanti.it  
I like to give my sincere thank you to 'Signora Daniela Andreoli'  (staff Archive Fulvio Bianconi) for her generous support. Linda, webmaster

The brilliant Artist Fulvio Bianconi was born 1915 in Ponte di Brenta, (province of Padova), near Venice. At a very young age, he showed a predilection towards drawing. After the War, he continued his work as a graphic designer with various publishers, such as Garzanti with whom he was to work continuously until 1975. He is best known as an Italian Murano glass Artist. His designs made him famous all over the World.
(source ©official website Fulvio Bianconi)

1972 English paperback Editions



The Illustrator for two of the Marianne Pan books, The Eagle and the Nightingale and The Bride of Selton Hall was by Italian Renato Fratini, * friend of Pino Dell'Orco who painted already the very first Heinemann Catherine hardcover One love is Enough.
* I like to give my thanks to Tim of the www.tikit.net website, for this great news, I am always on the hunt who painted the covers for Juliette Benzon's books.

IN HER OWN WORDS : JULIETTE BENZONI



Authentic document that Juliette Benzoni gave to 'Brigitte Sarraut' (Press Agent) for the 'Revue de Presse' book. It was made available to the press, Stars and people involved in the filming. The Author wrote this truly amazing text on her own electric 'Olympia Startype' typewriter - which she used to write almost all her successful books. I owe this unique document to 'Gérard Chambre', who played Jason Beaufort in the Marianne series. We searched for Catherine material in his 'souvenir box' and  found this otherwise forgotten memento of the beloved author. I have had the  mutual permission by the late director 'Marion Sarraut' and 'Gérard Chambre' to share this document.



In 1983 aired the first of four television series after the book series by Juliette Benzoni. The chosen director was 'Marion Sarraut'. On the above article we see the important characters of the Marianne series. The female leading role went to Corinne Touzet who would be become a very popular actress in other television series and later on stage.
Article translated by Linda, webmaster

Juliette Benzoni visiting the set of Marianne, directed by Dame Marion Sarraut the only director she wanted for her series after the disastrous experience in 1968 when Bernard Borderie (director of the Angélique films) filmed for Cinema « Catherine, il suffit d'un amour ». It made the Author cry because her story had nothing to do anymore with the original... I have seen the film and I admit, I walked out of watching...

Extract from « Marianne, the Bride of Selton Hall » Book 1
 
Marianne: « Sire, I know as well as you, perhaps even better, how your Minister of Police is vigilant and I have not whatsoever any intention to incriminate him. But one thing is certain: the man I saw was Francis Cranmere and no one else .»
 
 Napoleon made an irritated gesture, but dominant at once, he sat down at the foot of the couch and asked Marianne with a tone strangely softened.
 
Napoleon Bonaparte: « How can you be sure? You told me yourself you did not know much of that man? »
 
Marianne: « We do not forget the face of the one who destroyed both your life and your memories. And the man I saw had on his left cheek, a long gash that Lord Cranmere did not have on the morning of our wedding »
 
Napoleon Bonaparte: « In what way can that scar be a proof? »
 
Marianne: « I had done it with the tip of my sword to force him to fight! Marianne said softly. I do not believe in a likeness that would reproduce an injury I am the only one to know. No, it was certainly him, and now I am in danger! »
 
Napoleon laughed and with a gesture full of spontaneous affection, pulled Marianne into his arms.
 
Napoleon Bonaparte: « Now you are talking nonsense! Mia dolce amore! How could you be in danger when you have my love? Am I not the Emperor? Do you not know my power? »
 

Extract from « Marianne, the stranger from Tuscany » Book 2 From time to time, Juliette Benzoni pointedly referred to a heroine from a previously published book. In this case, it was about her first heroine: Catherine - One Love is Enough.