Bargain @ $1.99 from Steerforth's Pushkin Press imprint (couponable @ Kobo, price available in at least North America; these things are regularly around $10+ CAD), which specializes in bringing modern classic international literature into English translation:
The Brethren by the late French author Robert Merle (
Wikipedia), the 1st novel in his acclaimed and highly popular
Fortune de France series of historical novels (which has its own
Wikipedia entry), set in the 1500-1600s and following the political, religious, and war developments through the eyes of fictitious characters.
Consisting of 13 books written across 26 years, the adventure-filled epic Fortunes of France is one of France's best-loved historical fiction series. Never before published in English, book one, The Brethren, makes its debut in the US in the spring of 2015, followed in the fall by book two, City of Wisdom and Blood.
Two veteran soldiers retire to a castle in the wildly beautiful Périgord of sixteenth century France. But the country is descending into chaos, plagued by religious strife, famine, pestilence, bands of robbers... and, of course, the English.
In the course of their story we are introduced to a slew of vivid characters, including the fiery Isabelle, mistress of the castle, refusing to renounce her religious beliefs despite great pressure; the petty and meal-mouthed Francois, unlikely heir to the estate; the brave and loyal Jonas who lives in a cave and keeps a wolf as a pet; the swaggering soldier Cabusse; the outrageously superstitious Maligou, and Sarrazine, who once roamed as part of a wild gypsy band.
A sprawling, earthy tale of violence and lust, love and death, political intrigue and dazzling philosophical debate, The Brethren is the first step in an engrossing saga to rival Dumas, Flashman and Game of Thrones.