Book Description
From the mysteriously beautiful, richly hued landscape of
the Saharan mountains to the sumptuous splendor of
nineteenth-century Paris, Empires of Sand is a novel
that takes us on an extraordinary, powerfully emotional
journey. In a clash between two civilizations, two men of
common blood discover that in war, love, and even family,
they are both destined to be outsiders....
The year is 1870. The proud Republic of France is crumbling
under the onslaught of the Prussian army. Paris is under
siege. Too young to understand the shifting fortunes of the
empire, two boys forge a bond with their breathless
adventures in the tunnels beneath the threatened city. Paul
deVries is the cousin and constant companion of Michel
deVries--called Moussa--whose world-explorer father shocked
Paris with his marriage to a noblewoman of the Sahara. Moussa
will inherit the title of count; Paul is destined to be a
soldier like his father. But tragic events will send Moussa
fleeing to his mother's homeland, with its brooding
mountains, its hidden caves and fortresses. And the two boys
who have been the closest of friends are fated as men to
become the bitterest of enemies--victims of history and the
scheming of scoundrels.
They meet again on the Sahara's blazing sands, one as part of
a foolhardy French expeditionary force, the other with the
nomadic Tuareg, a majestic race of veiled warriors who live
and die by flashing swords and a harsh desert code of honor.
On this unforgettable, ever-shifting landscape, Paul and
Moussa are swept into another war, one far more brutal than
anything they have experienced.
Paul is obsessed with a quest for personal vengeance and
honor. And Moussa, in love with a woman betrothed to an
implacable Tuareg warrior, searches for the peace he knew as
a child in France. Now they both face a challenge of sheer,
harrowing survival: whether to follow the call of their
shared blood...or the destiny written in the treacherous
sands.
Empires of Sand is a grand novel of adventure in the
best tradition of historical fiction. With its astounding
scenes of the desert and its rich cast of
characters--soldiers, lovers, slaves, and zealots--this is a
reading experience to be treasured and remembered long after
the final page is turned.
