I never met Maurice Druon, alas (he died only a few years ago in 2009, and I regret that I never had the chance to shake his hand), but from all reports he was an extraordinary man. He was French, highly distinguished, a resistance fighter against the Nazis, a historian, a member of the French academy, a knight of the British Empire. You can read about his life on Wikipedia, and it makes quite a story in itself.

He wrote contemporary novels, short stories, a history of Paris and an amazing seven-volume series about King Philip IV of France, his sons and daughters, the curse of the Templars, the fall of the Capetian dynasty, the roots of the hundred years war. The books were a huge success in France. So huge that they have formed the basis for two television series (neither is available dubbed or subtitled in English, to my annoyance) which are sometimes referred to as "the French I, Claudius". I think Druon is France's best historical novelist since Alexandre Dumas, père.

The English translations … well, the seventh volume has never been translated into English, and the first six are long out of print, available only in dusty hardcovers and tattered paperbacks from rare book dealers found on AbeBooks. But that's about to change, thanks to my own British publisher, HarperCollins, who are bringing The Accursed Kings back into print at long last.

The Accursed Kings has it all: iron kings and strangled queens, battles and betrayals, lies and lust, deception, family rivalries, the curse of the Templars, babies switched at birth, she-wolves, sin and swords, the doom of a great dynasty and all of it (or most of it) straight from the pages of history. And believe me, the Starks and the Lannisters have nothing on the Capets and Plantagenets. Whether you're a history buff or a fantasy fan, Druon's epic will keep you turning pages: it is the original game of thrones.