<p>Published in 1558, ten years after the author's death, "The Heptameron" is an unfinished work inspired by the "Decameron" by Giovanni Boccaccio, containing seventy-two short stories written in French by Marguerite de Navarre, Queen of Navarre and sister of Francois I. The story begins with five gentlemen and five lady travelers who find themselves stranded in a small town in the Pyrenees, and decide to entertain themselves through story-telling, which rapidly evolves into an all-out verbal battle between the sexes. Shocking to many modern readers, "The Heptameron" is a fascinating glimpse into sixteenth century notions of love, lust, infidelity and other sexual matters. It is believed that many of these stories were taken directly from members of the court of Francois I; however, fictional or true, it is certain that this book will delight, offend and educate readers today as it has for centuries.</p>

The Heptameron

Literature & Fiction

Margaret Queen of Navarre

Short Stories & Anthologies

Digireads.com

<p>It is probable that every one who has had much to do with the study of literature has conceived certain preferences for books which he knows not to belong absolutely to the first order, but which he thinks to have been unjustly depreciated by the general judgment, and which appeal to his own tastes or sympathies with particular strength. One of such books in my own case is THE HEPTAMERON of Margaret of Navarre. I have read it again and again, sometimes at short intervals, sometimes at longer, during the lapse of some five-and-twenty years since I first met with it. But the place which it holds in my critical judgment and in my private affections has hardly altered at all since the first reading. I like it as a reader perhaps rather more than I esteem it as a critic; but even as a critic, and allowing fully for the personal equation, I think that it deserves a far higher place than is generally accorded to it.</p>

The Tales of the Heptameron

Genre Fiction

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

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Books by Margaret Queen of Navarre