Les Pardaillan — Tome 01

In the restless summer of 1553, a once‑proud lord of Picardy watches his world crumble under a royal decree that strips him of the only estate left to him. Haunted by memories of battlefield glory, he clings to the hope that his daughter, Jeanne, will somehow restore what fate has taken. The austere manor of Margency becomes a stage for bitter resentment toward the powerful Montmorency family that now threatens his very existence.

Jeanne, sixteen, moves through the chestnut wood with a blend of fragile grace and fierce determination, her thoughts tangled between family duty and a secret longing. When she encounters François de Montmorency, the charismatic son of the very man who seized her father's lands, their forbidden attraction ignites amid whispers of betrayal and looming danger. Their fragile romance promises both salvation and ruin, setting the tone for a saga of love, honor, and the brutal politics of Renaissance France.