In 1720, Nicolas Treml de La Tremlay is a pro-independence Breton lord.
One day, he decides to go and have a duel with Philippe II, Duke of
Orléans:, Regent of France. If he wins, Brittany will be free, but if he
loses, he will be sentenced for crime of lèse-majesté. Before he leaves
Brittany, he makes an agreement with his cousin, Hervé de Vaunoy so that
his grandson, Georges, will inherit his vast estate if he dies. But
Georges is just a five-year-old child and Nicolas is imprisoned in the
Bastille with his faithful servant, Jude Leker. Meanwhile, the
villainous Hervé tries to drown the boy to steal his inheritance. But a
mysterious albino known only as Jean Blanc watches and rescues the
infant.
Twenty years later, the forest of Rennes near Treml has become the lair
of the Wolves, a band of poor peasants who want to take revenge upon the
local lords who oppress them. The Wolves' leader is a mysterious masked
man called the White Wolf. A young officer of the King of France,
Captain Didier, is sent to Brittany to suppress the rebellion and
capture the White Wolf. But the crime committed by Hervé twentuy years
earlier casts a large shadow, and events unfold in a way no one could
have predicted...
In this remarkable historical novel -- amongst his first, published in
1843 -- Paul Féval throws a light on a little known period of French
history, while evidencing his fascination for criminal gangs and
masterful villains. In The White Wolf, he makes use of the obin Hood
myth, but also anticipates the characters of Zorro and The Scarlet
Pimpernel in the operson of his eponymous masked avenger.
