The HeptameronThe Heptameron

"In the early 1500s five men and five women find themselves trapped by floods and compelled to take refuge in an abbey high in the Pyrenees. When told they must wait days for a bridge to be repaired, they are inspired -- by recalling Boccaccio's Decameron -- to pass the time in a cultured manner by each telling a story every day. The stories, however, soon degenerate into a verbal battle between the sexes, as the characters weave tales of corrupt friars, adulterous noblemen and deceitful wives. From the cynical Saffredent to the young idealist Dagoucin and the spirited Parlamente -- believed to express Marguerite's own views -- The Heptameron provides a fascinating insight into the minds and passions of the nobility of sixteenth-century France. P.A. Chilton's translation captures the varied style of the original and expresses the individual voices of the characters, while his introduction describes the text's history and considers its themes. This edition also includes a timeline and bibliography"--