The Abyssinian

Literature & Fiction

RUFIN, Jean-Christophe

Genre Fiction

Norton

An extraordinary adventure, set against a forgotten event of the Renaissance: the French colonization of Brazil.Brazil Red tells the story of two orphaned children, Just and Colombe, who are dragged off on the French colonizing expeditionthey are meant to learn the native languages and act as interpreters. Everything in this novel is outsized: the setting, a jungle still populated by cannibals; the characters, including Villegagnon, the expedition's eccentric leader, who might be a model for Cyrano or d'Artagnan; and the events, a dress rehearsal for the Wars of Religion ten years in the future. Packed with portraits, landscapes, and action, Brazil Red is a novel about coming of age and discovering love. On a deeper level, the story follows the destinies and decisions of Just and Colombe, presenting two conflicting views of man and nature. On one hand, a conquering European civilization, offering liberation but delivering death. On the other, the Indian world, with its sensuality, its harmony, its sense of the sacred, its continual call to happiness.

Brazil Red

Contemporary

PICADOR (MACM)

There was once a handsome young doctor named Jean-Baptiste, who cured the ailing Emperor of Abyssinia, outwitted the King of France, made his fortune and eloped with the most beautiful girl in Cairo. Twenty years later Jean-Baptiste is to be found in Isfahan, the capital of Persia. Happily married, prosperous and admired, he nevertheless feels a certain restlessness. Then an unexpected messenger arrives with worrying news. Juremi, the companion of his youth, is a prisoner in Russia, and Jean-Baptiste alone can help.So begins a headlong adventure, one that leads to the court of Peter the Great, to capture by nomads, slavery in Afghanistan, eventual escape and return. Set in the treacherous splendour of the Eastern empires, this subtle, beautifully crafted and luminous sequel to The Abyssinian is historical fiction at its finest. 'An intricate tale of adventure told at a rip-roaring pace, crackling with humour and bouncing with plot-twists' Independent 'Handsome, reckless, libertarian, quick-thinking, and as handy a swordsman as a homeopathist, Jean-Baptiste is a romantic hero par excellence' Observer

The Siege of Isfahan

Picador

Set in the time of King Louis XIV of France, this baroque, romantic novel follows talented apothecary and physician Jean-Baptist Poncet on a diplomatic mission to Abyssinia, where he falls in love with the French consul's daughter, struggles with the intrigue of his Jesuit traveling companions, and saves the Ethiopian kingdom from European domination.

The Abyssinian : A Novel

Rufin

W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.

A luminous sequel to The Abyssinian, a headlong adventure set in the treacherous splendor of the Eastern Empires. It is twenty years since Jean-Baptiste Poncet, through his apothecary skills and daring diplomacy, cured the ailing Negus of Abyssinia and saved that country from the political ambitions of the Sun King, Louis XIV of France. Poncet now finds himself in Isfahan, capital of Persia, practicing medicine in the court of the Shah. In order to rescue his old friend Juremi, imprisoned in the Urals, Poncet travels in disguise to Russia, where he engages in a diplomatic duel of wits with Peter the Great. The friends, reunited, are captured by nomads and sold as slaves in Afghanistan. This the beginning of Poncet’s circuitous return to Isfahan, where his wife and daughter are trapped inside the walls by a besieging army of the Afghan king, Mahmud. Subtle, erudite, exciting, and beautifully crafted, this is historical fiction that belongs on the shelf beside the work of Patrick O’Brian.

Wood, Willard

W.W.Norton&Company

Orphaned children Just and Colombe are brought against their will into Brazil by French colonizers to learn the native language and become interpreters, in an adventure that pits them against such challenges as cannibals, the expedition's eccentric leader, and the days preceding the Wars of Religion. 15,000 first printing.

In 1699, Louis XIV of France sent an embassy to the most mysterious of oriental sovereigns, the Negus, or King, of Abyssinia (modern-day Ethiopia). Louis' hope was to lure that country into the political and religious orbit of France. Jean-Baptiste Poncet, young apothecary/physician to the pashas of Cairo, is the hero of this romantic epic embroidering upon the known details of that long-forgotten embassy. Selected by the French consul to lead the mission. Poncet travels through the deserts of Egypt and the mountains of Abyssinia to the court of the Negus, thence to Versailles and back again. Along the way he falls madly in love with the consul's daughter, treats the Negus for a mysterious skin ailment, and gains a disastrous audience with the king of France.

A luminous sequel to The Abyssinian, a headlong adventure set in the treacherous splendor of the Eastern empires. Twenty years have passed since Jean-Baptiste Poncet's daring mission to the remote and exotic court of the King of Abyssinia. We find him now in Isfahan, capital of Persia, practicing medicine in the court of the Shah. In order to rescue his old friend Juremi, imprisoned in the Urals, Poncet travels in disguise to Russia, where he engages in a diplomatic duel of wits with Peter the Great. The friends, reunited, are captured by nomads and sold as slaves in Afghanistan. This is the beginning of Poncet's circuitous return to Isfahan, where his wife and daughter are trapped by a besieging army of the Afghan king, Mahmud.

After a brilliant career as a trader, Jacques Coeur was summoned to the court of Charles VII and appointed Master of the Mint in 1436. He rose to become the King of France's visionary First Banker who, with his tours of the Far East, his opposition to the crusades, and his efforts to develop trade, brought France out of the darkness toward the Renaissance and modernity. At the height of his success, his ill-considered infatuation with Agnès Sorel, King Charles VII's favorite mistress, precipitated Coeur's fall from grace. In Rufin's delectable prose this true story becomes a gripping tale of adventure, a novel of ideas, and a moving love story.

The Dream Maker

Literary

Europa Editions

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Books by RUFIN, Jean-Christophe

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by RUFIN, Jean-Christophe. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Abyssinian

Brazil Red

The Siege of Isfahan

The Abyssinian : A Novel

The Siege of Isfahan

Brazil Red

The Abyssinian

The Siege of Isfahan

Brazil Red

The Dream Maker