Paperback: Quichotte et Moi: The Meurtrières Trilogy

Paperback: Quichotte et Moi: The Meurtrières TrilogyPaperback Book One Quixote and I: And The Murderous Exhibition LAST YEAR OF SCHOOL AT L'COLE DON QUICHOTTE DE LA MANCHA, WHERE FIFTEEN YEAR OLD ANTONIA AND HER FRIENDS HAVE STUDIED SINCE THEY WERE SEVEN. OH NO! DON QUIXOTE GIVES THEM A CLEAR CHOICE: THEY CAN KEEP LEARNING IN HIS LIVING ROOM, OR THEY CAN TRAVEL. ITS THE HARSH WINTER OF 1599, AND LUCA ISNT KEEN ON FREEZING, BLASCO RAN AWAY FROM HOME TWO YEARS AGO, SO THEIR QUARTET IS RUINED, AND THEY

Paperback

Book One

Quixote and I: And The Murderous Exhibition

LAST YEAR OF SCHOOL AT L'ÉCOLE DON QUICHOTTE DE LA MANCHA, WHERE FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD ANTONIA AND HER FRIENDS HAVE STUDIED SINCE THEY WERE SEVEN. OH NO! DON QUIXOTE GIVES THEM A CLEAR CHOICE: THEY CAN KEEP LEARNING IN HIS LIVING ROOM, OR THEY CAN TRAVEL.  

IT’S THE HARSH WINTER OF 1599, AND LUCÍA ISN’T KEEN ON FREEZING, BLASCO RAN AWAY FROM HOME TWO YEARS AGO, SO THEIR QUARTET IS RUINED, AND THEY KNOW THAT TRAVELLING WITH DON QUIXOTE EQUALS TROUBLE EVERY TIME. SO, THE CHOICE IS CLEAR.  

FIRST STOP: TOLEDO. SANSÓN’S PENCHANT FOR ART IS ABOUT TO GET SATISFIED! OFF THEY GALLOP TO AN EXHIBITION FEATURING THREE PAINTERS WHO AREN’T SPANISH YET HAVE A CONNECTION TO THE COUNTRY. THEY’RE EAGER TO SEE PAINTINGS BY EL GRECO, SOFONISBA ANGUISSOLA AND LAVINIA FONTANA, BUT NO SOONER DO THEY ARRIVE THAN PEOPLE START DROPPING LIKE WOUNDED BULLFIGHTERS.  

THEY COULD MOVE ON TO ITALY TO QUENCH LUCÍA’S THIRST FOR SCIENCE—OR ENGLAND, SO ANTONIA CAN GET HER LITERATURE FIX—BUT THIS BECOMES IMPOSSIBLE AS THEY MAKE AN UNEXPECTED FRIENDSHIP THAT BOTH COMPLETES THEIR QUARTET AGAIN AND PUTS THEM ALL IN MORTAL DANGER.  

TO TOP IT OFF, THEY REALIZE A LEGEND ASSOCIATED TO ONE OF EL GRECO’S PAINTINGS IS PUTTING QUIXOTE AT FATAL RISK—NOW THEY REALLY MUST SOLVE THE CASE. WHAT STARTED OUT AS THEIR LAST SCHOOL TRIP SOON BECOMES A LETHAL MASQUERADE INVOLVING ROYALTY, THE POPE, DISTINCTIVE GENETICS, LOVE AND BETRAYAL, MAKING THEM QUESTION JUST WHAT EXACTLY IS ON EXHIBITION, AND WHETHER ANY NUMBER OF MASKS CAN HIDE ONE’S GREATEST FEARS.  

Genre: Murder Mystery, Action & Adventure, Historical Fiction 

Unique Word Count: 700

Total Word Count: 17,500

Book Two

Quixote and I: And The Murderous Science

DESTINATION: ITALY. PURPOSE: TO VISIT GALILEO GALILEI, ONE OF THE FEW SCIENTISTS OF HIS TIME TO ASSERT THAT THE EARTH MOVES AROUND THE SUN, AND NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. DANCING, SPEAKING ITALIAN, EATING PASTA AND LEARNING SCIENCE—LUCÍA IS IN HEAVEN! AND BEST OF ALL, NO MORE MURDERS TO SOLVE—EVER.

THEIR FRIEND ANTONIETA GONZALES IS NOW A FUGITIVE—THE ROYAL FAMILY THAT BOUGHT HER WANTS HER BACK. THEY THOUGHT A HOODED CAPE WOULD TAKE CARE OF THE PROBLEM, UNTIL THEY SAW POSTERS HANGING ALL OVER EUROPE OFFERING A JUICY REWARD FOR HER HEAD.

OH...AND SHE MIGHT NOT BE THE ONLY PERSON BEING PERSECUTED. IS THAT GIORDANO BRUNO ABOUT TO GET BURNED BY AN INQUISITOR? AND COULD IT BE THAT SOPHIA BRAHE, HER BROTHER TYCHO, KATHARINA GULDENMANN AND HER SON JOHANNES KEPLER ALSO JOIN THE FUGITIVE PARTY?

THE MORE THE MERRIER, RIGHT? STRENGTH IN NUMBERS? NOT WHEN ONE OF THEM HAS THIRD-DEGREE BURNS, ANOTHER ONE KIDNEY ISSUES, ANOTHER ONE IS PREGNANT AND ANOTHER ONE HAS...A CERTAIN GENETIC CONDITION. BUT HEY, WITH WITCHES, HEALERS, GARDENERS, ALCHEMISTS, HERBALISTS, MATHEMATICIANS, CHEMISTS, GENEALOGISTS, MUSICIANS AND ANATOMISTS ON THEIR SIDE, IT SEEMS THEY’RE COVERED. HEY, ANYTHING IS BETTER THAN HAVING TO SOLVE MURDERS.

EXCEPT...IT’S HARD TO IGNORE THEM WHEN THEY START HAPPENING AGAIN. AS THEIR JOURNEY PROGRESSES, ANTONIA AND HER FRIENDS SOON REALIZE PERSECUTION BY ROYALTY AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH MIGHT BE THE LEAST OF THEIR PROBLEMS. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN SANSÓN’S LOVE FOR DRAWING TURNS AGAINST THEM AND HEALING ARTS TURN DEADLY? THEY BETTER FIGURE IT OUT FASTER THAN A VENUS FLYTRAP CAN CATCH A FLY, OR THEY MIGHT BE NEXT.

Genre: Murder Mystery, Action & Adventure, Historical Fiction 

Unique Word Count: 680

Total Word Count: 17,200

Book Three

Quixote and I: And The Murderous Theater

TO ENGLAND! ANTONIA AND FRIENDS DASH TO THE GLOBE THEATER’S INAUGURATION, FEATURING SHAKESPEARE’S ROMEO AND JULIET. OH BRILLIANT MAN, TO HAVE CREATED SUCH MASTERPIECES ALONE! BUT...DID HE? AS THEY BEFRIEND HIS FAMILY, IT’S OBVIOUS THEY’RE INVOLVED IN THE WRITING, DESPITE BEING...ILLITERATE!?!  

OH NO...SHAKESPEARE IS RUINED! HIS BEST COMEDIC ACTOR JUST DROPPED DEAD. HEY, NO PROBLEM. TURNS OUT ANTONIETA CAN ACT—REALLY WELL. EXCEPT, WOMEN AREN’T ALLOWED TO ACT, WRITE, OR READ IN ENGLAND—DEFY THIS AND YOUR HEAD COULD DECORATE THE LONDON BRIDGE. THIS IS WHY SHAKESPEARE HAS NEVER CREDITED HIS FEMALE FAMILY MEMBERS IN THE WRITING. HE DIDN’T CREDIT THE MALE PLAYWRIGHTS WHO HELPED HIM BECAUSE THEIR CATHOLIC AND/OR HERETICAL TENDENCIES HAVE THE ARCHBISHOP DESPERATE FOR THEIR HEADS TOO.   

THANKFULLY, ONE OF SHAKESPEARE’S PAST ACTORS—WILL KEMPE—SAVES THE DAY—BUT IS THAT WHISKY IN HIS BOTTLE? WHEN KEMPE FAILS ON STAGE, ANTONIETA WINS EVERYONE OVER, BUT AT WHAT COST? HER LIFE IS NOW IN DANGER, BUT IT’S NOT ROYALTY PURSUING HER—AND IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH HER GENETIC CONDITION—BUT RATHER HER TALENT.  

AS ANTONIA AND HER FRIENDS SAVOUR THE UNEXPECTED DELIGHT OF STAYING IN SHAKESPEARE’S HOME, THEY BECOME ENMESHED IN A WEB OF BUDDING FRIENDSHIPS AND COMPLICATIONS THEY COULD NEVER HAVE FORESEEN, INCLUDING AN INTRIGUE ABOUT THE SUCCESSION TO THE BRITISH THRONE. WHEN ACTORS ABOUND—AND NOT JUST ON STAGE—FAME IS FICKLE, LOYALTY IS LAX AND ANYTHING GOES TO GET BACK ON TOP OR STAY THERE...COURAGE BECOMES...HARD TO MUSTER. TO WHAT ENDS WILL ANTONIA AND HER FRIENDS GO TO SAVE THEIR NEW FRIEND, AND WILL SANSON’S BUDDING FEELINGS FOR HER HELP OR HINDER? 

Unique Word Count: 690

Total Word Count: 17,200

Genre: Murder Mystery, Action & Adventure, Historical Fiction 

LEARN OR TEACH FRENCH WITH THIS TRILOGY FOR INTERMEDIATE MID LEARNERS

Level: Intermediate Mid

• Perfect for Educators of FRENCH 4 & AP: Middle School, High School, College.

• Perfect for Tutors & Parents

• Perfect for Independent Learners

Imagine being able to communicate in French—but actually. Imagine facilitating French language acquisition for your students without them noticing, because they're having so much fun. You could be that person, with the help of Input Wand.

Constanza Ontaneda’s Intermediate Mid “Meurtrières” Trilogy will fortify an intermediate low learner's mental representation of French. Each book has twelve chapters, is illustrated, has a comprehensive glossary and is suitable for ages 13+.

If you teach through story and the Theory of Comprehensible Input guides your work, this trilogy is meant for you. If you wish to learn a language with research-proven methods, this trilogy is meant for you.

Enthralled by language acquisition from a young age, Constanza Ontaneda studied eight languages formally—Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Mandarin, Russian, German, and Quechua.

She has taught Spanish, French and/or English to adults, as well as high school, middle school, and elementary school students for over a decade, and chaired the World Language Department at a middle school in Times Square.

She believes that Compelling, Comprehensible, and Communication-Enhancing materials are the cornerstones of a research-based, proficiency-oriented, and input-focused world language education.