The Angel's Promise

Novel

with Violette Cabesos

Press House Prize 2004
Translated into 13 languages

Presentation

Beneath the crypt of Mont Saint-Michel lies a thousand-year-old secret…
A rock battered by storms, a place of primitive worship sanctified by the first Christians, Mont Saint-Michel has yet to reveal all its secrets. At the beginning of the 11th century, the cathedral builders erected a grand Romanesque abbey there in honor of the Archangel, prince of the heavenly armies and guide of souls to the afterlife.
A thousand years later, a young archaeologist with a passion for the Middle Ages finds herself trapped in a mystery where past and present strangely intertwine.

Translations

German : PIPER R. GMBH & CO. KG
US English : PEGASUS BOOKS (“The Angel's Promise”)
Chinese : SHANGAI 99 READERS' CULTURAL CO LTD.
Korean : YEDAM
Spanish (Castilian): EDICIONES GRIJALBO
Modern Greek (after 1453): ELECTRA EDITIONS
Lithuanian : TYTO ALBA
Polish : ALBATROS EDITURA
Portuguese : CIRCULO DE LEITORES (Club Edition only)
Portuguese : DIFEL EDITORA
Romanian : RAO INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING GROUP
Russian : EKSMO
Serbian EDITIONS : LAGUNA

What the press says about it

“A novel of cathedral-like proportions, whose architecture and subtlety are revealed as you progress, as your gaze adjusts to the medieval twilight… There is a wealth of meaning and multiple levels of interpretation in this historical and detective story, metaphysical and initiatory. It is in the vein of Ken Follett’s bestseller, The Pillars of the Earth. You are captivated.” — Le Figaro

"A novel whose plot unfolds over several centuries, and whose suspense defies the imagination without ever ceasing to be plausible… a true archaeological thriller, an enigma reminiscent of the curse of Tutankhamun and Agatha Christie's 'And Then There Were None.' And all this phantasmagoria is built around a dream, like a pyramid standing on its point… You have to dig into the Earth to find the sky." Le Nouvel Observateur

"A less convoluted, more fluid historical thriller than those of Umberto Eco. These two parallel stories are well-crafted, with the fascinating construction of Mont Saint-Michel as a subtext…" Le Parisien

"A book that blends history, mystery, and archaeology. A whole procession of mysterious crimes and unspeakable secrets draws us deep into the heart of the sacred mountain, making this book a historical thriller of the highest order." - Ouest France

“Past, present, grand history and individual destinies, spirituality and obscurantism, corpses and treasure hunts… While The Angel’s Promise is reminiscent of The Name of the Rose , Frédéric Lenoir and Violette Cabesos’s beautiful metaphysical thriller has the particular merit of dusting off the tiresome, touristy image of Mont Saint-Michel and restoring its full historical and religious complexity. It also fully embraces the romantic and sentimental elements, which make certain particularly erudite passages go down especially well… Devilishly captivating.” France Soir

“A sophisticated thriller conceived as an archaeological treasure hunt… skillfully juggling past and present, the authors unveil the techniques of cathedral builders, the origins of Celtic beliefs, monastic life in the Middle Ages, ecclesiastical deceit, and the daily constraints faced by contemporary archaeologists… and a monk’s struggle against his guilty inclination for a beautiful healer. Nothing evokes the very essence of a sacred place like a bouquet of unholy feelings. And nothing restores to a tourist temple, besieged by shops and bars, a little of its divine mystery.” L’Express

"A gripping theological thriller, wildly romantic." She