The Rose of Provence

by Susanna Lehner

  Morgan slowly set out towards the girl, while the flames were snatching at the edge of the rusty skirt more and more ravenously. When he got to the foot of the pile, Amrita also noticed him, and their eyes interlocked for a timeless moment. He did not detect reproach in the emerald eyes because he was late, but he knew that the self-accusation will torture him for a long time.

  The smoke crawled up on her dress, and pushed her into unconsciousness before the merciless flames could wrap around her body. Morgan was unable to see this. He felt sorry for Amrita, but also for himself. He knew that in the following years, decades, or even centuries, a monster will feast on his heart, which is even crueler than self-accusation: the forever hungry lack.

  Consummatum est.

  Appendix 1 - Historical figures and places in the novel

  Henry II - (31 March 1519 – 10 July 1559) was the king of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559. The son of Francis I and his first wife, Claude of Valois, the duchess regnant of Brittany. Henry II was the tenth Valois ruler of France.

  His early death was caused by an injury in a jousting tournament, which was supposedly prophesized by Nostradamus as well. His three sons, Francis II, Charles IX and finally Henry III of France succeeded him on the throne. The male line of the Valois dynasty died out with Henry III.

  In 1553, Henry married Catherine the Medici, the daughter of Lorenzo de Medici the ruler of Florence, but their relationship was not so fruitful: the true love of Henri until his death was Diane de Poitiers who was twenty years younger than him and wielded considerable influence on the royal politics. Even though Henri had affairs with numerous other women beside her and fathered several illegitimate children.

  Catherine de Medici – (13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was the mother of the crown prince, queen of France from 1547 until 1559, then regent on behalf of her second son, Charles IX.

  Catherine was considered to be infertile for ten years, though she tried everything to become a mother. Neither the traditional medicine nor the charlatans helped. However, on 19 January 1544, Francis, Dauphin of France (Francis II king of France, 1559-1560) was born and from that time on, Catherine provided a continuous childbearing to her volatile husband. The couple had 10 children.

  Catherine was interested in the occult sciences and surrounded herself with several magicians, seers and astronomers. She also accepted the service of Nostradamus who later became very famous in the royal court.

  Diane de Poitiers – (3 September 1499 – 25 April 1566) was a French courtesan, duchess of Étampes, one of the lovers of Henry II king of France. She gained fame with her beauty and her influence on the king.

  Her husband died in 1531, so Diane de Poitiers widowed at a young age; she was 32 years old at that time. She returned to the court and a few years after her husband’s death (around 1534), she became the lover of the crown prince, Henri Prince of Orléans, who later became Henry II the king of France.

  Although Henry – fulfilling his obligations as a king – married Catherine de Medici, Diane de Poitiers stayed next to him all of his life, and in the following twenty-five years, she could wield huge influence on the life of the crown prince, who became king later, and was twenty years younger than her.

  Nostradamus – Michel de Nostradame, often Latinized as Nostradamus (14 December 1503 – 2 July 1566) was a significant figure of the French Renaissance, Doctor, qualified astronomer and astrologer, apothecary, mystic prophet and seer.

  He was born in 1503, in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Provence in France. He studied philosophy in Avignon, and then he entered the medical university of Montpellier, on the shores of the Mediterranean, and after five years of study, from the bishop, he received the lowest level doctoral degree and the certificate justifying the licentiate. He aimed to obtain the higher doctoral degree as well, but for that he should have studied further. However, he couldn't achieve this because of the plague of the 1520s. Nostradamus took the role of the plague Doctor, which demanded outstanding courage. After the end of the epidemic, he returned to study at the university of Montpellier and on 23 October 15, he officially obtained the doctoral title. After that, he practiced as a doctor for nearly thirty years.

  He dealt with future-telling as well, though it was not safe in those days because the Catholic Church held a suspicious eye on future-telling, and magic. Despite all this, his rhyming, prophetic book was published in 1555 in Lyon.

  In November 1547, he got married. He married a wealthy widow, and then he moved to Salon with his family and lived there until the end of his life.

  Benvenuto Cellini – (3 November 1500 – 13 February 1571) was a Florentine sculptor, goldsmith, medalist. Between 1540 and 1544, he stayed in the court of Francis I, king of France.

  Jacques Cartier – (December 31, 1491 – September 1, 1557) was a French explorer. He was the first to describe the Canadian Saint Lawrence River and its shores. Explorer of several islands, and he was the first to name the land ‘Canada’. After several expeditions to the east coast of North America, Francis I could not start a new expedition for a while because of the lack of money, so Cartier could only depart again in 1541 with five ships. However, the journey failed. The settlers’ supplies ran out, and moreover, the aborigines proved to be hostile.

  So, after the discovery of the Ottawa River and the Davis Strait, the French left their settlements, and in 1543, they returned home once and for all. The colonization of New France only started again at the beginning of the 17th century.

  Louvre Palace – Philip II Augustus built it in 1204 to be a royal castle. During the time of the Capetian dynasty, it was a royal hunting lodge and palace. Between 1364 and 1380, King Charles V rebuilt it in the gothic style. Henry II employed Pierre Lescot to build a beautiful Renaissance style royal castle from it. Catherin de Medici placed her seat there and extended it.

  Langeais – Here stood the oldest fortress of France, which was built in the 10th century by Foulque de Nerra. The old tower remained from the castle, and it can be seen in the garden of the present castle. In 1216, Philip II Augustus got hold of the fortress, and as a result of a peace treaty, it became royal property. The liege lords changed several times until the castle fell into ruins at the beginning of the 1400s. Between 1465 and 1467, during the Hundred Years’ War, Louis XI built the present-day castle.

  „Consummatum est” – It is finished! (Christ's last words, John 19:30)

  Appendix 2 - Recipes for the rose dishes and drinks in the novel

  Caution: Only use edible flowers produced for human consumption. Always shop from a reliable source. For your safety, never use garden plants.

  Rose bonbons

  Ingredients: 25 dkg sugar, 2 handfuls of dried rose petals, 30 dkg powdered milk, 25 dkg butter, 1 dl water, 3 tablespoons rose water, 10-15 dkg peeled ground almonds

  Grind one part of the sugar and half of the dried petals. Combine this colorful sugar with the rest of the sugar and cook into a syrup with the water. Remove the pot from the heat, add rose water and combine with butter, ground almonds and powdered milk. Chill in a cool place for at least one hour, but overnight is even better. With wet hands, roll the mixture into tiny balls; cover them with finely shredded rose petals. Depending on the color of the rose, we can make red, pink or white bonbons!

  (Source: Monika Halmos –Taste of Rose www.halmosmonika.hu)

  Honey glazed chicken breasts stuffed with rose petals

  Ingredients: 2 chicken breasts, salt, 2 tablespoons honey, 2 tablespoons spicy chili cream, 1 handful of fresh rose petals, flour for coating, 2 eggs, bread crumbs, oil for frying

  Debone the chicken breast, cut the chicken into four pieces. Tenderize the chicken pieces, sprinkle salt on them and glaze with honey and paprika cream. Spread the rose petals, roll them up tightly and fix with pins. Coat with flour, whipped egg then bread crumbs, and fry them in hot oil until they become crispy golden brown. After removing them from the oil, let the chicken drip, remove the pins and serve it while hot. Recomm
ended garnish: potato parsnip puree.

  (Source: Monika Halmos –Taste of Rose www.halmosmonika.hu)

  Rose donut with rose jam

  Ingredients: (cca. 16 donuts) 40 dkg extra fine flour, 8 dkg butter, 2 tablespoons sugar, a pinch of salt, 2 tablespoons rum, 2 tablespoons rose syrup, 1 dl sour cream, 4 egg yolks, oil for frying, 2-3 tablespoons powdered sugar for covering, rose jam

  Make a mixture of the flour and butter; knead flexible dough with the rest of the ingredients. Chill it in a cool place for at least one hour. Roll out the dough to 2 mm thick on a mildly floured pastry board. Then, take the round pastry cutter (in 3 sizes) and tap it sharply so that it goes straight through the dough. Cut in the edges of the dough disks; this is how they will open up and become rose shaped during frying. Take the biggest piece and spread egg whites in the middle and push the medium-sized dough on it. Then, spread egg whites again so that we can stick the smallest piece of dough on it, and then push it in the middle a bit. We can make 16 rose donuts from the given amount. Fry them for about 3 minutes in medium-hot oil. Drain the donuts on paper towels, sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar and serve with rose jam.

  (Source: Monika Halmos –Taste of Rose www.halmosmonika.hu)

  Rose jam

  Ingredients: 50 dkg rose petals, 50 dkg sugar, and juice of 2 lemons

  Wash the petals and cut off the yellowish-white bottom of each petal. Bring 3 dl of water to a boil, put the rose petals in and continue to boil for 5 more minutes. Then, add sugar and the lemon juice and stir over low heat for 25-30 minutes until the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat, while the jam is still hot, pour into small, sterile jars, and seal. If we have rose liquor at hand, pour 1 tablespoon of it into every jar! Let the jam cool in dry steam; store in the refrigerator after opening.

  We can also prepare jam if we make apple sauce of fallen, summer apple and add the rose petals to this puree. Then, we will get a delicious, fruity-spicy jam, in which the flavor of the rose dominates.

  (Source: Monika Halmos –Taste of Rose www.halmosmonika.hu)

  Gourmet Rose Cream Soup

  Ingredients: 2 dkg butter, 1 medium onion, 4 tablespoons flour, 6 dl broth, 2 dl heavy cream, 1 teaspoon curry, 6 tablespoons honey, a handful of fresh rose petals, a small chili pepper, 2 tablespoons rose liquor, 20 dkg fresh or frozen shrimp, a few sprigs of rosemary, butter, salt

  Melt the butter in a large soup pot, add the onion and caramelize. Add flour and stir until light yellow, then pour in the broth. Add the heavy cream, rose petals and season with curry, half of the chili pepper and honey to taste. Simmer for a few minutes, then use the hand blender to blend the mixture. Season with rose liquor. Add salt if necessary.

  Caramelize the shrimp in some butter, add the rest of the chili pepper, rosemary, salt, and fry it on high temperature until fragrant. If it is done, roll on a teaspoon of honey again and serve with the hot soup.

  We can make this soup of dried rose petals as well, and we can fry the shrimp pierced on bamboo sticks, so it is going to be a nice decoration for the soup!

  (Source: Monika Halmos –Taste of Rose www.halmosmonika.hu)

  Cold Rose Punch

  Ingredients (for 8 people): 3 handfuls of rose petals, 1,5 dl Cognac, 5 dl semi-sweet white wine, 1 lemon, 20 dkg sugar, 20 dkg strawberry, 1 bottle ‘demi-doux’ champagne

  Put two handfuls of rose petals into a punch bowl. Add sugar, lemon slices, Cognac and the white wine. Cover and marinate the mixture in a cool place for an hour. Filter the mixture right before serving. Add the washed and sliced strawberries, pour in the champagne and serve the punch with the remaining rose petals floating on the surface.

  If the strawberry season has already passed, other succulent fruits can also enjoy the rosy bubble bath: it is worth trying with peach and cantaloupe as well!

  (Source: Monika Halmos –Taste of Rose www.halmosmonika.hu)

  Appendix 3 – Book recommendation

  The Golden Panthers – fantasy adventure novel

  If you are interested in how the story of Amrita and Morgan continues nowadays, read the adventure novel, The Golden Panthers!

  At the end of 2012, a new era has begun: the dawn of the Golden Age has arisen. However, by making use of the first, still uncertain steps of the nascent world, the Dark Forces try to regain their dominion.

  So the upholders of Light cannot be idle either. Amrita, the beautiful helping witch is entrusted with an important mission: she must find the twins, who were separated and went missing thirty years earlier. They have to break the ever-growing power of the Prince of Darkness with the help of a mysterious and ancient relic. The twins are selected, since they have unusual positive energy, and they can dedicate their talent to the service of mankind with the help of a ritual, performed under a rare planetary alignment. First, in order to achieve their aim, together with Amrita, they have to contend with the Minions of Darkness: the desperate demons, harmful witches and vampires. Furthermore, they also have to decode the mysterious message of the spirit world.

  If it had not been for Kristof, a knowledgeable Hungarian shaman, their mission would be a complete failure. Above all, Amrita has to fight against enemy creatures and constantly contend with her contradictory, unfulfilled love for Morgan, the thousands of years old charismatic vampire. And when she meets an attractive, mortal man, at first, she is unable to decide whether a new emotion can override the age-old, platonic bond.

  The small team is racing against time, searching for the answers to several questions: why is it important where and when the twins were born? What is the correlation between the picturesque Pilis Mountains, nestled in the middle of Europe, and the constellation Orion? What happened to the people of the sunken empires Mu and Atais, lost in the Pacific Ocean thousands of years ago? What is the message of the ancient stone tablets of Burma? Where is the Desert of Sonorous, and what secret does it hide? Who are the ‘forbidden bloods’? And, of course, whom will Amrita choose?

  While the protagonists have countless adventures by following the clues and traveling half way around the world – including the east coast of the United States, Earl Dracula’s former home, the depth of the snowy, rugged mountains of Transylvania, and the remote exotic places of Burma and China – you will discover the answers.

  This fast-paced novel blends fantasy and reality, the human world and the supernatural, adventure and romance, the past and the future. The characters, while walking through existing places, discover mysteries supported by history and current research.

  Buy the ebook on Smashwords:

  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/374141

  Tales of Oscar – funny cat stories

  The ‘Tales of Oscar’ is about the adventures of a baby tomcat, left alone in a park. He finds a kind girl who becomes his master. He gradually discovers the world of humans, and shines his colorful personality in different situations, but he often gets into trouble. When the family expands with new members, and a pretty lady cat turns up in his life, he has to face other complications as well. Fortunately, however, Oscar can always handle the challenges with proper humor and wisdom.

  Buy the book on Smashwords:

  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/384850

  In preparation

  The Butcher of El Camino – mysterious crime story

  A new mystery crime story takes place on „El Camino”, the ancient and mystic pilgrimage route in Northern Spain.

  Audrey Garcia, the pretty, young lawyer from Denver, after the death of her mother, decides to travel to Europe and walk the five-hundred-mile pilgrimage route, the El Camino. Meanwhile, the successful and wealthy film producer, William Benton has to face an incurable disease. He decides to find his former love and their common child before he leaves this world. He entrusts a private detective, Robert O’Connor with the investigation, who soon reveals that Benton’s daughter is just plodding miles in Spain. They also learns that a serial killer is going on the rampage on the Camino, who has left beheaded corpses alon
g the path. William immediately sends the investigator for his daughter, who has to throw all of his abilities into the mix to find the clues to locate her.

  Audrey, at a slower pace, but with several days of advantage, travels along the path, on which she sometimes walks alone, sometimes with other companions: Brad, the grim and mysterious American, Helga, the easygoing German student, Jean-Pierre, the French dentist, Carmen, the woman from Madrid, struggling with a mid-life crisis, and the cheerful English archeologist, James. Along the trail, many of them will be part of a strange experience: in time, and sometimes in space also, they find themselves suddenly elsewhere.

  Audrey feels affection for the appealing James first, but after a tall, dark-haired, handsome stranger appears in her dream, she can only think about this man. When Robert catches up with her at last, flabbergasted Audrey realizes that the man, she saw in her dream, really exists. At the request of his employer, the investigator does not reveal himself, but keeps his eye on Audrey to protect her from the lurking dangers. The earthly threats, however, are dwarfed by what they face when they arrive to the medieval Camino through a dimensional gate…

  The author, Susanna Lehner lives in Central Europe, in Hungary. This is the country that gave the world - among other things - the Rubik's Cube, the helicopter, Vitamin C and... Zsa Zsa Gabor! The Butcher of El Camino is her fourth novel. Regarding the location, the story is based on her own experiences, since, similar to Shirley MacLaine and Paulo Coelho, she also completed the pilgrimage.