

Here a young female from the russet ant nation of Bel-o-kan learns that a strange new weapon has been killing off her comrades. Meanwhile, in a pine stump in a nearby park, a vast civilization is in turmoil.

But when the family dog disappears down the basement steps, Jonathan follows-and soon his wife, his son, and various would-be rescuers vanish into its mysterious depths. Inheriting the dusty apartment, the Wells family are left with only one warning:Never go down into the cellar. Jonathan Wells and his young family have come to the Paris flat at 3, rue des Sybarites through the bequest of his eccentric late uncle Edmond. Unique, daring, and unforgettable, it tells the story of an ordinary family who accidentally threaten the security of a hidden civilization as intelligent as our own-a colony of ants determined to survive at any cost.

It takes you inside the ants’ universe and reveals it to be a highly organised world, as complex and relentless as human society and even more brutal.Here is the stunning international bestseller in the tradition ofWatership Downbut with a dark, original twist. It is an experience that will alter his life for ever…Įmpire of the Ants is an extraordinary achievement. Innocently he enters the world of the ant, whose struggle for existence forces him to reassess man’s place in the cycle of nature. But when the family’s dog escapes down the cellar steps, Jonathan has little alternative but to follow. On his death, he leaves his apartment to his nephew Jonathan with one proviso: that he must not descend beyond the cellar door. During the few seconds it takes you to read this sentence, some 700 milli0on ants will be born on earth…Įdmond Wells had studied ants for years: he knew of the power which existed in their hidden world. Since then they have developed one of the most intricate civilizations imaginable – a civilization of great richness and technological brilliance. Ants came to this planet long before man.
