Stefano Viviani Livres

Rome, 63 BC. In a city on the brink of acquiring a vast empire, seven men are struggling for power. Cicero is consul, Caesar his ruthless young rival, Pompey the republic's greatest general, Crassus its richest man, Cato a political fanatic, Catilina a psychopath, Clodius an ambitious playboy. The stories of these real historical figures - their alliances and betrayals, their cruelties and seductions, their brilliance and their crimes - are all interleaved to form this epic novel. Its narrator is Tiro, a slave who serves as confidential secretary to the wily, humane, complex Cicero. He knows all his master's secrets - a dangerous position to be in. From the discovery of a child's mutilated body, through judicial execution and a scandalous trial, to the brutal unleashing of the Roman mob, Lustrum is a study in the timeless enticements and horrors of power.

Rutherfurd celebrates America's greatest city in a rich, engrossing saga that showcases his extraordinary ability to combine impeccable historical research and storytelling flair. As in his earlier, bestselling novels, he illuminates cultural, social, and political upheavals through the lives of a remarkably diverse set of families. As he recounts the intertwining fates of characters rich and poor, black and white, native-born and immigrant, Rutherfurd brings to life the momentous events that shaped New York and America and Britain's unique place in the city's history: the Revolutionary War, the emergence of the city as a great trading and financial centre, the excesses of Gilded Age, the horror of the Civil War, the explosion of immigration in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the trials of World War II, the near-demise of New York in the 1970s and its roaring rebirth in the 90s, and the attacks on the World Trade Centre.

A chilling contemporary thriller from Robert Harris set in the competitive world of high finance. Dr Max Hoffman is a legend. A physicist once employed on the Large Hadron Collider, he now uses a revolutionary and highly secret system of computer algorithms to trade on the world's financial markets. None of his rivals is sure how he does it, but somehow Hoffman's hedge fund -- built around the standard measure of market volatility: the VIX or "Fear Index" -- generates astonishing returns for his investors. Late one night, in his house beside Lake Geneva, an intruder disturbs Hoffman and his wife while they are asleep. This terrifying moment is the start of Robert Harris's new novel -- a story just as compelling and timely as his most recent contemporary thriller, The Ghost. Over the next 48 hours, as the markets edge towards another great crash, Hoffman's world disintegrates. But who is trying to destroy him? From the Trade Paperback edition.

Hornby change de genre : ce quatrième roman est écrit à la première personne au féminin. Et ça marche formidablement bien en quadra anglaise, cet homme-là a tout bon. Non seulement il arrive à se glisser dans notre cerveau, mais, plus fin et plus fort, il épingle les tics masculins qui donnent à n'importe quelles femmes sensées des envies de meurtres. La Bonté : mode d'emploi narre l'histoire de Kate, juste quelqu'un de bien, comme dit la chanson, médecin pour tenter de soulager les maux de ses prochains. Problème, ces derniers temps, ses patients la gonflent sérieusement. Son mari, ses enfants, son amant aussi. Bref, un jour de blues, elle annonce à son époux son intention de divorcer. Que n'avait-elle dit là ? Les premiers ronchonnements d'usage passés, David décide de devenir bon. Sur le papier ça a l'air bien. Dans la vraie vie, c'est le drame.