The Negotiator: The Masterclass at Saint-Germain

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

It is 1570, and France has been torn apart by religious wars between Catholics and Huguenots. The formidable Queen Mother, Catherine de Mdicis, calls on Henri de Malassise to negotiate a peace treaty with the Huguenots.

The wily nobleman needs all his experience and psychological insight to navigate through the tactics, manoeuvres and compromises of the discussions. He sees some division in the Huguenot ranks: is it a weakness, or a clever ploy by his adversaries Is it by chance or design that his Huguenot cousin, the enigmatic Elonore, appears on the scene at a critical moment

The negotiation at Saint-Germain really did take place, and Malassise played a key role. The author Francis Walder draws on his own military and diplomatic experience to illustrate, through this Prix Goncourt-winning novel, the skills of negotiation much needed in diplomacy and business today.

Author Bio

Francis Walder (originally Waldburger) was born in Brussels in 1906. He trained at the Royal Military Academy there, and in WWII was a prisoner of war in Germany for five years. After the war he represented the Belgian Army in diplomatic negotiations. While an officer, he wrote a few philosophical texts, but it was in retirement that he published historical novels, beginning with Saint-Germain, ou la Ngociation (Prix Goncourt 1958) and later Une Lettre de Voiture (1962) and Chaillot ou la Coexistence (1967). He died in Paris in 1997.