Pastel
Publisher
:
Gallimard
Parution date
:
2000
EAN
:
9782070759194
Description
In the countryside in southern France, Simon Terrefort learns the trade of dye-making from his father. As is customary in the 15th century, the Terrefort family has only ever dyed one color, red. But Simon is drawn to another hue, that of the sky. A chance encounter grants him the opportunity to open his own dye shop where he soon becomes famous for his blue cloth the color of the Madonna’s cloak, putting an abrupt end to family tradition. An adulterous affair, his father’s furor, and his competitors’ hostility plunge Simon into desperation. A witty, enchanting novel written with the utmost historical accuracy, Pastel—the French word for woad, the plant formerly used to yield blue dye—is a poetic journey into the past.
Author
Olivier Bleys : Thirty-year-old Olivier Bleys traveled extensively throughout the lands where woad was grown, from Albi, in the south of France, to Marrakech and Timbuktu.
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