The Brethren, Merle - B +

                                               This novel is the first in a remarkable 13 book series called 'Fortunes of France' written over the course of thirty-five years. It is immensely popular in France and only recently translated to English.  It is narrated by Pierre de Siorac as he tells the story of his father Jean and Jean's adopted brother Jean Sauveterre during the years  1547 to 1566.  They are  soldiers of the Norman Legion who receive battlefield promotions, acquire a small stake, and declare fidelity to each other when they acquire Mespech, a modest castle and its surrounding lands in the Perigord region of southern France. They are also quietly Hugenot, and I suspect the throes of the Reformation in France and the fighting it occasioned will be a running theme in the series.  They slowly build up their estate by common sense management, frugality and timely acquisitions. As they grow their wealth, they become less willing to hide their religious predilections as the strains between the Church and the Reformation grow. Jean de Siorac's household is rendered when his wife, Isabelle, opposes his attempt to convert all therein to the Hugenot cause.  The Brethren proceed to build their estates and skillfully avoid the wars that threaten all in France. The 1563 Edict of Ambroise ended the internecine wars. Soon thereafter, plague decimates the Perigord. The novel does a superb job providing the historical background, yet fully explores the human emotions of Isabelle's death, Pierre's promise to his mother to wear a medallion of her papist loyalty, his father's eventual outrage about it and Sauveterre's careful, thoughtful intervention that restores the domestic peace at Mespech. It concludes with a fifteen-year-old Pierre on the road to Montpellier, where he will study medicine with his half-brother,  Samson, who will study law. They leave behind Francois, the somewhat lacking older brother, to prepare for  his eventual inheritance. This novel does what one hopes a well-written and researched historical novel will do. It entertains but weaves a deep background that affords one the opportunity to learn a thing or two about a time and place. As I will likely never read a history of the Reformation in southern France, this helps build one's knowledge base.