Product Description

An epic novel of adventure in the grandest tradition of historical fiction, Empires of Sand takes us on a thrilling, unforgettable journey.

As civilizations collide around two men, a battle begins: for survival, for love, and for a destiny written in a desert's shifting sands.

The year is 1870. Paris is under siege, and two boys, best friends and cousins, are swept from their life of privilege. A brutal killing forces Michel deVries — called Moussa — to flee to his mother's homeland in North Africa. A family disgrace forces Paul deVries to seek redemption in the French military.

Ten years will pass before they come face-to-face again. Now Moussa has become a desert warrior and a beautiful woman's forbidden lover, while Paul leads an ill-fated French force into the Sahara. Against a breathtaking landscape of blazing sands and ancient mysteries, these two men face a struggle that will shatter lives across two continents — and force them to choose between separate dreams and shared blood....

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #306954 in Books
• Published on: 2001-03-06
• Released on: 2001-03-06
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 784 pages

Amazon.com
What a find! David Ball's first novel packs the wallop of a good old-fashioned adventure movie, with historic sweep to please any James Michener fan. The action starts with a wounded wild boar's attack on two French boys (convincingly told from the points of view of the boar, the boys--Paul and Moussa--the terrified mom, and an evil bishop who watches and prevents his coachman from shooting the beast). The pace never slackens as the scenes flash past: invasion and class war in the streets and underground quarryways of Paris during the 1870 siege, moonlit sneak attacks in the desert the Arabs call "the Land of Thirst and Fear," and an epic French attempt to drive a railroad through the Sahara--a mad plan opposed by the dunes and their no less implacable inhabitants, the Tuareg.

The Tuareg are the coolest--they're known as the blue men because they wear head-to-toe wraparound indigo-dyed clothes that scarily obscure their faces and stain their skin. Their rivals call them blue devils, and they have lots of rivals. Even though their dads are brothers, the French boys are fated to fight as tribal rivals in Saharan nomad's land because Moussa has a Tuareg mother. His dad, Count Henri deVries, crash-landed his balloon at her feet, and she followed him back to Paris. Racial oppression and bad bishop behavior provoke justifiable homicide at the Paris Opera, occasioning a hairsbreadth balloon escape and southern adventures too numerous to enumerate here. The prose is purple but handsome, the plot pulpy and propulsive. Check out these sentences: "He fell to her from the sky"; "Bashaga's howl haunted them until it was swallowed by the wind"; "As Moussa's stabbing knife pushed up through to his brain, Abdul ben Henna's last thoughts were of revenge." If these make you burn to read on, read on! You won't be disappointed. --Tim Appelo

From Publishers Weekly
inspired by the true story of the 1880 French expedition that attempted to establish a railroad through the desert.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
It's 1870, and Moussa de Vries, son and heir to the explorer and adventurer Count Henri de Vries, enjoys an idyllic boyhood, hunting and building castles and forts with his cousin Paul on the grounds of the Chateau de Vries outside Paris. One year changes it all forever: schoolboy taunts teach Moussa the pain of being both African and French, the Prussians lay siege to Paris, and everyone in the de Vries household is forced to make choices that will change their lives. Moussa's uncle, the rigidly honorable soldier Jules; Jules's seductive wife, Elizabeth; the dashing Count de Vries and his fiercely protective wife, Serena, a noblewoman of the North African TuaregAall are forced to take actions that will separate the boys for a decade, until they meet again in the vast, dangerous, and beautiful Sahara. Ball's debut, intricately plotted and beautifully written, is a saga of love, betrayal, adventure, and despair that will delight all readers, especially those who thrilled to Beau Geste.ACynthia Johnson, Cary Memorial Lib., Lexington, MA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Engrossing
I have a passionate interest in History and have read innumerable books on the History of different regions and Ages. I think this is one of the best books on Historical Fiction I have read so far. Everything about the book...the story,the writing style is interesting to say the least. I felt I lived with the characters in the story. Eagerly waiting for your next book Mr. Ball.

Great Book
David Ball's book is excellent and I only wish I could find more of his writing. I did a search and this is the only book I found.

The tale of the two boys in France is told with aplomb and delight as they explore the area outside Paris before the Prussian invasion. Mr. Ball's development of the characters is first rate and his vivid descriptions of life in the time period are first rate. I especially enjoyed his descriptions of the desert in North Africa and the system of honor and caste amongst the tribes.

I can only wonder how good more work from Mr. Ball would be. Any one know anything else about his writing?

Tyler S Ferguson Author of Apocrypha

Outstanding Historical Fiction Novel!
I felt obligated to read this book because David Ball is my neighbor and I sometimes babysit for his daughter, Li. However, I have absolutely no regrets, and will openly state that I enjoyed Empires of Sand more than The Da Vinci Code or Angels and Demons.

Please do not think that I am unknowing or naive about how good this novel was just because I am only 14. I skipped the first grade because when I was in Kindergarten, my reading level was that of a fourth grader. I have recently read Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci Code, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night and Anna Karenina. Empires of Sand was my favorite of all of them.

The book is a fast-paced, adventurous mystery with history all rolled in. It begins in France with two cousins, Paul and Moussa, being attacked by a wild boar. The event is shown through the eyes of a bishop, a mother, the boar, each of the boys and others as well. The entire novel switches back and forth between perspectives, giving the reader a more general understanding. From Paris in 1860-70 to the Sahara in 1880, Empires of Sand explores the personal events of Paul and Moussa deVries during the war between Prussia and France. It also takes a very detailed view of battles between Saharan tribes like the Shamba and Tuareg and troops of France.

Overall, Empires of Sand is a terrific book for anyone interested about France in the mid to late 1800's, or about the Sahara Desert. Even if you are not into history, the book is so in depth and personal that readers of every kind will enjoy it!