Les Duellistes

Pierre de Varages was just sixteen when he entered the service of Comte de Bouteville, one of Louis XIII's most valiant and turbulent soldiers. At the end of the Wars of Religion, the two men plunge into the madness of duels with the finest of the nobility, experiencing the delicious thrill of danger, bloodshed and, perhaps, death for nothing... By drawing their swords, they put their lives on the line twice over, because to fight in single combat is to confront Richelieu.

A spirited novel about honor, friendship, insolence, and the tragic vanity of these "male virtues" in the face of the political realities of a changing world.