[La Saga des Fourmis 01] • Empire of the Ants

Ants came to this planet long before man--100,000,000 years before. Since then they have developed one of the most intricate civilizations imaginable--a civilization of great richness and technological brilliance, so near and yet so little known.

Edmond Wells had studied ants for years: he knew of the intrigue and power that existed in the hidden world beneath his cellar. Before he left his apartment to his nephew, Jonathan, he made one thing perfectly clear: Jonathan must never descend beyond the cellar door. But when the family's dog escapes down the cellar steps, Jonathan has little alternative but to follow. Innocently he enters the highly sophisticated, highly intricate world of the ant, whose struggle for existence forces him to reassess man's place in today's ever-changing world. It is an experience that will alter his life for ever.

In this exceptional first novel, Bernard Werber describes with chilling accuracy a universe of astonishing complexity hidden below ground.

A phenomenal bestseller in Europe, Empire of the Ants is a philosophical masterpiece: once you read it, the world will never seem quite the same again. -- back cover.