La retraite ardente : roman

The story opens on a fertile valley split by a winding river, where a modest village and an ancient women’s monastery have endured centuries of shifting borders, wars, and rebuilding. The land’s bounty and the shared language of its inhabitants bind the two banks together, even as rulers and rebels repeatedly claim ownership and spark conflict.

For generations the monastery—known locally as the “Quarantine”—has become a sanctuary of healing, housing an infirmary, a modest hospital, and a quiet community of monks, nuns, and laypeople seeking refuge from the world’s turmoil. A long stretch of peace allows the settlement to flourish, but the fragile equilibrium is shattered when a neighboring power breaks a centuries‑old pact, sending troops across the river and igniting a new wave of devastation.

Listeners are drawn into the rhythm of ordinary lives caught in the tides of history, feeling the weight of tradition, the hope of renewal, and the looming threat of war that threatens to upend the valley’s hard‑won serenity.