I will name this ballad, The Song of Mélisande and Melchior.
We return to the quietness of the house and to our own rooms therein. And I light the lamp and pick up the new mandolin my father has gifted to me and I say to Melchior,
‘Tonight I will make music.’
Melchior takes the mandolin from my hands. He leans over and blows out the lamp and says,
‘Let us first make love.’
And as I lie down with him that night I know that I have truly come home.
Epilogue
DESPITE BEING KEPT under close supervision for several years Henri of Navarre managed to escape.
In time he succeeded to the French throne and became one of the greatest kings ever to rule France.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Although based on real historical events this book is a work of fiction.
To tell the story of Mélisande and Melchior I have added characters, happenings and prophecies – specifically the ones referring to the massacre of St Bartholomew’s Eve and the Sixth Extinction – to those that we know definitely existed at that time.
The massacre of St Bartholomew’s Eve did take place in Paris in 1572.
One can visit the house of the famous seer, Michel de Nostradame, known as Nostradamus, in Salon de Provence.
The prophecies of Nostradamus can be read seriously or with scepticism. It is the choice of each individual to believe or disbelieve as they choose.
There have been five previous ‘Extinctions’ in the history of the world when cataclysmic events wiped out a huge number of species. It does not take any gift of foresight to see that our current disrespect for the resources of the Earth will lead to disaster. The human race may be the species who are annihilated in this ‘Sixth Extinction’.
The warning is there, hidden among the standing Stones, as written in The Nostradamus Prophecy.
The author would like to thank:
Margot Aked
Lauren Buckland
Laura Cecil
David Clayton
Sue Cook
Marzena Currie
Annie Eaton
Julie Gormley
Diane Hendry
Sophie Nelson
Chris Newton
Hugh Rae
Hamish White
Museum staff in Salon de Provence
Random House staff
& the usual suspects . . .
About the Author
Theresa Breslin is an award-winning Scottish author whose work has appeared on television and radio.
Her first book, Simon’s Challenge, won the Young Book Trust’s Fidler Award for new writers and she was awarded the Carnegie Medal for Whispers in the Graveyard.
The Dream Master was shortlisted for the Children’s Book Award and Remembrance, a story of youth in World War One, was shortlisted for the South Lanarkshire, the Sheffield, and the North-East Book Awards. Divided City has been shortlisted for the Sheffield Children’s Book Award 2006 and longlisted for the Carnegie Medal.
Her latest novel is The Nostradamus Prophecy published in May 2008. This is a gripping novel about love, loyalty, power and mystery. It is steeped in atmosphere and its historical setting is brought vividly to life. Underlying the well crafted historical story is a pressing contemporary concern for readers of today.
Also by Theresa Breslin
THE MEDICI SEAL
REMEMBRANCE
SASKIA’S JOURNEY
DIVIDED CITY
For junior readers:
THE DREAM MASTER
DREAM MASTER NIGHTMARE!
DREAM MASTER GLADIATOR
DREAM MASTER ARABIAN NIGHTS
For more information about Theresa Breslin’s books, visit:
www.theresabreslin.co.uk
THE NOSTRADAMUS PROPHECY
AN RHCP DIGITAL EBOOK 978 1 407 04293 0
Published in Great Britain by RHCP Digital,
an imprint of Random House Children’s Publishers UK
A Random House Group Company
This ebook edition published 2012
Copyright © Theresa Breslin, 2008
Map by Stephen Raw
First Published in Great Britain
Corgi Childrens 2008
The right of Theresa Breslin to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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