Évelyne Jouve Knihy

L'arte dei manoscritti medievali è la meravigliosa celebrazione dell'arte medievale dei manoscritti miniati, applicata a soggetti sia religiosi sia di diverso genere. I capitoli introduttivi narrano la storia dei manoscritti, descrivono dettagliatamente le tecniche impiegate e illustrano le origini e i luoghi in cui si possono ammirare, ancor oggi, tali preziose opere d'arte. Questo libro vanta una pregevole riproduzione di esemplari finemente decorati sopravvissuti al trascorrere del tempo: dalle bibbie ai libri di preghiere, alle opere storiche, ai volumi di storia naturale, alle guide di medicina, ai primi atlanti, accanto ai libri della tradizione e della novellistica.

Qui était vraiment le comte Vlad de Valachie, dit aussi Drakula, le Vampire des Carpates, mort depuis cinq siècles ? C'est la question que se pose, intriguée, une jeune fille en découvrant clans le bureau de son père un vieux livre dont toutes les pages sont blanches, sauf la page centrale, sur laquelle un dragon aux ailes déployées protège entre ses griffes cet unique mot : Drakula. Commence alors, pour son père comme pour elle-même, une enquête périlleuse autour de cette noire figure du passé. Peu à peu, l'ombre maudite se fait plus présente et oppressante autour d'eux. Peu à peu, la quête se transforme en traque, et la vérité se dégage de la légende, plus terrifiante encore.

On a winter night in 1964, Dr. David Henry is forced by a blizzard to deliver his own twins. His son, born first, is perfectly healthy. Yet when his daughter is born, he sees immediately that she has Down's Syndrome. Rationalizing it as a need to protect Norah, his wife, he makes a split-second decision that will alter all of their lives forever. He asks his nurse to take the baby away to an institution and never to reveal the secret. But Caroline, the nurse, cannot leave the infant. Instead, she disappears into another city to raise the child herself. So begins this story that unfolds over a quarter of a century—in which these two families, ignorant of each other, are yet bound by the fateful decision made that long-ago winter night. Norah Henry, who knows only that her daughter died at birth, remains inconsolable; her grief weighs heavily on their marriage. And Paul, their son, raises himself as best he can, in a house grown cold with mourning. Meanwhile, Phoebe, the lost daughter, grows from a sunny child to a vibrant young woman whose mother loves her as fiercely as if she were her own.