Louise Reviews The Last Campaign of Marianne Tambour: A Novel of Waterloo

Please not that the author is gifting a signed paperback and an ebook for two lucky winners.

See below for details.
The winners will be drawn on Thursday the 5th November

From David Ebsworth's amazon page

On the bloody fields of Waterloo, a battle-weary canteen mistress of Bonaparte's Imperial Guard battalions must fight to free her daughter from all the perils that war will hurl against them - before this last campaign can kill them both.

This book, an immense story of war, and the lives of those who live through it, deserves an accolade for astounding depth of detail, not only in the descriptions of the characters, but also in their actions. A cinematic, full colour, masterpiece. A powerfully packed novel of the history of one of the most iconic battles, that of Waterloo, told from the female perspective. Ebsworth has characters driven by their personalities, and their battle for survival. The personalities, and their struggles are such, that the characters become three dimensional, and the struggles becoming personal to the reader. We have Marianne Tambour, who is a cantiniere; Liberté Dumont, who is a female Dragoon, and informer to the police minister, Joseph Fouché.

I first have to mention the book cover for Marianne Tambour. The detail, the story beckoning, the tale of a well-known war, with the unknown personal lives that lived within that war. This is, indeed, a cover of some note.

I have read that we view a cover in a clockwise fashion. This being the case, then, I shall start with the image of the woman, top right. Is this Marianne Tambour? Then there is the title of the book, slashing the cover in half, written in blue and red, resembling a signature, perhaps; confirming the protagonist, in colours imitating the tricolour above. Below this we have three soldiers, one of whom is most definitely Napoleon. The horses look worn down, mirroring the men mounted upon them, demonstrating the bone-weariness of war. The bodies beneath the horses' hooves, strewn like discarded chaff. Then there is the author's name, supporting the entire scene, in a capitalised font; bold, underlining the image above. We then swing our vision around and back to the top of the cover, and there is the tricolour. Is it being held by Marianne Tambour? Or is it the arm of a soldier? Only reading the story within will inform.

David Ebsworth's story of intrigue within the well-known story subject of the battle of Waterloo, is inspired. It is written as a journal, of sorts, each chapter being pinned to a day, a date, and a time. A countdown, if you will.

Chapter One 

Wednesday 14th June 1815, 2.00pm 

The boning knife flashed from the left, flensed the lower buttons from Marianne's coat in the instant she jumped back, a reflex from the strange gift of premonition - or perhaps it was a curse - that she possessed.

These opening lines, of what is Marianne Tambour's last campaign, are so powerful as to warn the reader of what is to come. Mayhem, death, and a struggle for survival.

When I first started to read Ebsworth's novel, I was hooked immediately by those first opening lines. First of all, they intrigued me. A boning knife, a knife that has a particular function; that of taking flesh from bone. The image is harrowing in its starkness. Its blade is narrow, with a long point, perfect for the task. The knife, 'flensed the lower buttons from Marianne's coat', flense, an interesting verb to use, as this is the particular action of stripping blubber or skin from whales, another very particular function. For me, that would imply the stripping of Marianne's flesh from her bones in a most brutal fashion. Imagine how close that knife came as it took the lower buttons from Marianne's coat. A hair's breadth closer, and Marianne's story would be over. It is detailed description like this; that encompasses the reader, the narrative being absorbed by osmosis, tantalising, and beckoning the reader.

Whether you are on the French side, or the English side, it matters not. Ebsworth's narrative is being told not only from the female perspective, which in itself, is refreshing, but it is also being told from the French point of view. Very often, when reading about Waterloo, we are treated to the English view of the event. For me, it was like snooping behind enemy lines, if you will, overhearing, and being alarmed at the terrible events.

Marianne has a tenacity which helps her to stay alive after her husband's death. She not only has herself to look after, but also her child, Poppy. Here Ebsworth impacts the feeling of survival, a child, after all, is a precious thing, the future of a population. War is a destructor of populations, and so we are ensconced in two battles, the one of Waterloo, and the survival of Marianne, and her child.

There is much brutality in this story of war, if you could, you would look away, but the draw is to watch, to flinch, to be torqued into a curl of anxiety, followed by relief. We are manipulated by Ebsworth's text, he leads, and we follow.

This is from Chapter Eighteen: 

'Fouché tells me you're something of a sword-sharpe,' he said. More lather, she thought. That's good. She slipped her fingers inside the knuckle guard, wrapped them around the wired leather in a tug-of-war over some disputed garment. The Lieutenant's eye was drawn inevitably to them and it was the only chance that Liberté needed. 

This is a most compelling fight scene, told entirely from the female perspective. The sword-fight between Lieutenant Henry and Liberté, is written in such a way that the draught from the swords is palpable, as they sweep past. They were fighting with sabres,

These were hardly duelling blades, after all. There was no subtle slash and parry for a Dragoon, the heavy sabre either wielded straight as a lance, or hacking like a bludgeon. A butcher's clever, she always thought, this backsword, as opposed to the light cavalry sabre's flensing knife.

The sword fight is described cinematically. Detail after detail laid before the reader, jamming the brain with the same rush of adrenaline as the characters must be experiencing. I was left breathless after reading the sabre duel. I know nothing of fencing, per se, other than it is an art. So the description, so rich in its detail, left me in no doubt as to the stamina and the art, needed by the combatants.

If you like to read books about the battle of Waterloo, and you are au fait with the history, then this book is one for you. If you have no notion of the battle, then this book is also one for you. Ebsworth's fine art of creating a world, one which is both believable, and all encompassing, is a unique talent. His use of prose is superlative. Marianne Tambour, is a tour de force.

To win a copy please leave a comment below or on our Facebook page

From David Ebsworth's amazon author page:

David Ebsworth - aka - Dave McCall

David Ebsworth is the pen name of writer, Dave McCall, a former negotiator for Britain's Transport & General Workers' Unioin. Dave was born in Liverpool (UK) but has lived for the past thirty years in Wrexham, North Wales, with his wife, Ann. Since their retirement in 2008, the couple have spent about six months of each year in southern Spain. Dave began to write seriously in the following year, 2009. He has recently published his fourth work of historical fiction. The Last Campaign of Marianne Tamboiur: A Novel of Waterloo. His previous books have been about: the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745; the Spanish Civil War in 1938; and the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. Dave's main passions are his family, history, travel, Spanish food, swimming and sailing. He is a member of the Historical Novel Society and the Alliance of Independent Authors.

David Ebsworth is author of many books, which can be found on amazon

You can also find him on Facebook

And on his website

Louise Rule is author of Future Confronted, a biographical account of her family's struggle to come to terms with a much loved son's terminal diagnosis and is currently writing her first historical novel, The Touching of Stones set to the background of the Scottish Wars of Independence. 

Sharon Reviews: Duval and the Empress's Crown by Michele McGrath

Please see below for details regarding an ebook giveaway of this 

enjoyable read, kindly donated by the author

The Prize draw was made on Tuesday 22nd September. Thank you to everyone for entering and for your kind comments. And the winner is....Lauren Pullen! Congratulations Lauren.

"Police Agent Alain Duval is tasked with finding the crown but time is very short and his suspects many. Present when the crown disappeared are Napoleon's sisters, Princess Elisa, Princess Pauline and Princess Caroline. Are they involved or merely witnesses? Aided by his wife Eugenie and his friends Lefebvre and Fournier, Duval sets out to unravel the mystery." 

   Ever since I was a teenager I've had a soft spot for the Napoleonic Period.  Napoleon's story has always fascinated me; the rise of an obscure Corsican to become the most powerful man  in France (a novelist just couldn't make it up!). So when the chance came to review a novel of the period I jumped at it.Duval and the Empress's Crown is not the longest book you'll ever read. At just shy of 100 pages, it's short and sweet. But it is a little gem. From the first words you are drawn into the world of Imperial Paris, still recovering from the petrifying post-Revolutionary Terror, but looking forward to the pomp and pageantry that accompanies an Empire.

   And into this world are thrown 3 friends: Duval the former soldier, Fournier the career policeman and Lefebvre the reformed thief. They work for Napoleon's feared Chief of Police, Fouquet. With just days until the coronation of Napoleon and Josephine, the Empress's crown is stolen from the jeweler tasked with creating it. Duval and his friends are given the unenviable task of finding it - in time for the coronation.

   It's a race against time...

  To make matters worse, it soon becomes evident that the prime suspects are the Emperor's own sisters; the Princesses Elisa, Pauline and Caroline. Duval has to be both determined and diplomatic in order to recover the crown in time for the coronation, just days away. With the Terror still only a recent memory, Duval has to tread very carefully, or he could end up not only with a ruined career, but facing the guillotine! 

   Duval and the Empress's Crown is a great detective novel, full of adventure, intrigue and royal scandal. The story takes you through the investigative process in great detail, while giving you the human side of the lead characters. The three policemen enjoy a wonderful relationship, and the book is at its best during the scenes when they are together. Their banter seems natural and easy and makes the reader smile:

 [Duval] "What about my lame leg?"
[Lefebvre] "What about it? You ran at such a high speed when Monsieur Duclos was firing his pistols at you, I couldn't catch you up, lame leg and all"
[Duval] "Just as well he was such a bad shot...."

   You are also treated to glimpses of the glamour and power of the French Empire by visiting the salons of the Emperor's sisters, as Duval tries to unravel the mystery of the crown's disappearance. He has to tread carefully with the wily Elisa and pregnant Caroline. And then there is the Emperor's over-familiar sister, Pauline:

"Let us be comfortable while you tell me what my brother wants of me"

Although this is the fifth book in a series, it really doesn't matter. It is eminently readable as a standalone, with only vague references to the previous novels in the series - ensuring you don't feel like you are missing anything. The author has done a wonderful job of taking the reader on a journey through post-Revolutionary Paris. You can still feel the long shadow of the guillotine, while being treated to a glimpse of the splendour and elitism of the emerging Imperial court, where careers are made and ruined by the whim of one man...

   Duval and the Empress's Crown is a wonderful, easy, light read. The plot is not over-complicated but flows smoothly and swiftly to its conclusion. Whilst it could benefit from deeper descriptions of locations and events the characters are well-developed, amusing and capable of eliciting a range of emotions from the reader.

   It's a wonderful novel for a lazy day in the sun. A highly enjoyable read.

If you would like to get your name in the draw for this fabulous book, please leave a

comment below or on our Facebook page

About the Author:

 Award winning author, Michele McGrath, was born on the beautiful Isle of Man in the middle of the Irish Sea. She has lived in California, Liverpool, France and Lancashire before returning home. Living in Paris and Grenoble taught her to make a mean ratatouille and she learned the hula in Hawaii. Michele is a qualified swimming teacher and manager, writing self help books on these subjects. Although she writes in many genres, her real loves are historical romance and fantasy. She has won numerous writing competitions, had second places and been short-listed many times. She has had tens of thousands of sales and downloads.

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Sharon Bennett Connolly has been fascinated by history for over 30 years. She has studied history academically and just for fun – even working as a tour guide at historical sites. She is now having great fun passing on that love of the past to her 10-year-old son. Having received a blog,  History...The Interesting Bits as a present for Christmas 2014 she now enjoys sharing that love of history with her readers.

PAULA'S PEOPLE: DAVID EBSWORTH TALKS ABOUT HIS LATEST NOVEL SET DURING THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO

Welcome again for another round with Dave McCall, who writes as David Ebsworth. Here, David, our Book of the Month winner, would like to talk to you about the background of his latest novel, The Last Campaign of Marianne Tambour.


The Battle of Waterloo, its 200th Anniversary, and a new angle on the story--

The British Cavalry at Waterloo

They say that on the day after the battle, you couldn’t find a pair of pliers for love nor money. Not for fifty miles around.

The new fashion - in London, Paris, Berlin and St. Petersburg – was for dentures fitted with real teeth. And there, on those few square miles of Belgian soil, lay no less than 50,000 potential donors, most of them dead, the rest so close to it that it didn’t much matter.

Carved ivory base with human teeth, 

And it wasn’t just the nature of dentistry that changed in June 1815.

The battles fought in Belgium over those few brief days brought an end to 22 years of almost continuous fighting between the European powers in what had been, effectively, the first “world war” – and historians estimate that as many as 7,000,000 military and civilian casualties occurred between 1804 and 1815 alone. Until 1917, this was known as “The Great War.”

Those battles also brought an end to that military rivalry between Britain and France which had flared so violently and plagued each of the six centuries since the Anglo-French War of 1202-14.

From now on, France would be our ally in all subsequent conflicts – the beginning of a new and more modern Europe in which Germany and Italy would be born, and the seeds of social democratic government would slowly begin to replace the despotism of the old royal houses. It’s a process that’s still evolving, of course.

But many other things remained entirely unchanged. International banking continues to fund all sides in current conflict, exactly as they did in 1815. The arms industry is still the main beneficiary of warfare, exactly as it was in 1815. And regardless of the original spark, which may ignite the bonfires of war, it has generally been international banking and the arms industry that have fanned the flames and kept the bonfires burning.

So, with this in mind, and the bicentenary of Waterloo coming up, I began to think how I might tell the story from a slightly different perspective.

As usual, I began by looking at the controversies. Was victory at Waterloo (a) won by the brilliance of Wellington and the resolute steadiness of his British infantry; (b) truly threatened by the alleged cowardice of his Dutch and Belgian contingent;  (c) snatched from the jaws of an ignominious British defeat by the timely arrival of Wellington’s dogged Prussian allies; or (d) simply thrown away, against all the odds, by the French. You’ll find whole battalions of eminent historians this year fighting their own battles, for and against each of these viewpoints.

And then there were the legends – none striking me so hard as the tale of Charles Napier (95th Rifles) and the broken body of a beautiful female French cavalry trooper he discovered among the thickest of Bonaparte’s dead. It was this tale that set me on the path of researching the many feisty women who fought in their own right, in their own way, in the French front lines.

By the time I’d finished that research, I knew what I didn’t want to write. Not yet another “boy’s own adventure” story of Waterloo. Not another one-sided account that failed to recognize the battlefield fever and frenzy, the heroism that gripped British, Dutch-Belgian, Prussian and French alike – nor to at least acknowledge that all the protagonists genuinely believed they were “on the right side.” Hindsight, and the pen of the victors, might have shaped the way we’ve been taught about Waterloo over the past 200 years but on the day among the French ranks, it all looked very different indeed!

So I became a bit fixated on some little-known and often forgotten issues.

First, Napoleon faced two very powerful armies, not one – and each of those armies was numerically as strong as his own.

Napoleon Bonaparte

By the time of Waterloo itself, over the previous three days, the French had already fought two major battles and several smaller ones.  The French army and its commanders had slept little over those few days. By the end of the battle, many French divisions, almost a third of Bonaparte’s total force, had still not fired a shot nor been engaged.

For at least half the battle a relatively small number of French soldiers held off wave after wave of Prussians trying to come to Wellington’s rescue – in some of the bloodiest fighting which those taking part had ever seen. And for most of the battle Bonaparte – either by choice or through illness – was not even present on the field.

The Prussians arrive!

The result of all this has been The Last Campaign of Marianne Tambour – a tale of Waterloo told from the viewpoint of two French women participants. But is this Napoleonic chicklit? Definitely not. This is a very traditional action story, and will hopefully appeal to all readers of historical fiction. Somebody said that the novel is perhaps akin to Thomas Keneally’s The Daughters of Mars and if so, that’s a great compliment.

But I’ll leave readers to make up their own minds!

*********

David Ebsworth has published three previous novels: The Jacobites’ Apprentice, finalist in the Historical Novel Society’s 2014 Indie Award; The Assassin’s Mark, set during the Spanish Civil War; and The Kraals of Ulundi: A Novel of the Zulu War. Each of these books has been the recipient of the coveted B.R.A.G. Medallion for independent authors.

More details of David’s work are available on his website: davidebsworth.com.

The Last Campaign of Marianne Tambour was published on 1st January and is available through all normal outlets.

Lisl's Bits and Bobs: Interview with author Art McGrath

Good day, Art McGrath, and thanks for joining us for a little chat.

Thank you for having me, Lisl. I appreciate the chance to speak to you and your readers about my book and the Napoleonic era.

You “grew up fascinated with all things Napoleonic.” What first drew you to Napoleon?

I think in large part it was my French heritage. While my surname is Irish, I am French in all but name, with French-Canadian ancestry on both sides of the family. Though I realize now that French-Canadians were somewhat removed from the Revolutionary and Napoleonic conflicts, it still played a role in my interest. Besides, there was a fair amount of sympathy in Quebec for the Emperor of the French who was such a bitter enemy of the English. I even have a relative, a great-great-uncle, who was named Napoleon.

Were there a lot of others who shared your passion?

No, as I recall I was the only person I knew with that passion for Napoleon. It was a rather lonely interest and waxed and waned over the years.

In your reading you ran across references to Americans having served in the Grande Armée, paving the way for The Emperor’s American. What about Pierre Burns? Did you have to flesh him out over time or did you already seem to know him when his character made himself known to you?

For a time I saw the world through Pierre’s eyes, no matter what I did. I definitely already seemed to know him, or he knew me but I also had to flesh him out as I went. At first he was a little too perfect, but I hope I made him a little more vulnerable and gave him room to grow. He has quite the career ahead of him.

With Pierre wanting to tell his story, over your shoulder, so to speak, what would be the most important thing he wants our readers to know about himself? About Napoleon?

I think Pierre would want people to know he fought not for the sake of fighting but because he was doing what he thought was right. There is more than a streak of the adventurer in him, it is true, but he wouldn’t fight on what he thought was the wrong side.

As for Napoleon, Pierre would want readers to know that Napoleon would have been content with rebuilding France after the Revolution but the courts of Europe, especially England, would not allow it. Yes, Napoleon conquered most of Europe and perhaps after 1808 or 1809 became caught in his own aura of invincibility but he did not start out intending to crush Europe under his heel. He was pushed into it, largely by England. The victories of 1805-1807 were a defensive reaction by Napoleon.

What were some of the challenges of bringing Pierre’s story to life for him? Do you sometimes feel you must be cautious because you are also speaking for a number of others? That is, other Americans who served in Napoleon’s army?

I started writing the book as a way to discover how an American might end up in Napoleon’s army. I don’t feel too constrained or cautious  about those men because so little is known about them that they were a blank slate for me.

Pierre himself writes that he has killed “enough for several lifetimes. More than anyone should see.” Were you ever concerned that readers might be put off by some of his actions or commands, or did you have confidence in his character and context of his various circumstances?

I suppose it is a danger but Pierre is a soldier in a long series of wars that saw some of the most intense, bloody fighting in Europe between the fall of Rome and World War I. Those actions are integral to the story and I have faith in the reader, especially someone who is reading military historical fiction, to understand that.  You can’t tell the story of a soldier in combat without touching on that killing. And Pierre became—becomes— quite good at it. He was part of the greatest army of his age surrounded by hardened professionals. It is only natural that as time goes by and he survives battle after battle he becomes quite good at it—even better than he has shown a talent for in book one.

I really enjoyed the reading of this in first person—it seems as if you as the author could better get into Pierre’s head, if you pardon, but also the character could resonate more with readers, be less distant. Did any of this play into why you chose to write in that perspective? Was it a difficult decision to make, or was it a given?

It was both a given and a difficult decision to make. When I came up with the concept I certainly had no intention of writing it first person but when I sat down and started writing, it came out in Pierre’s voice. I knew historical fiction in the first person was unusual and even frowned upon by many and so I tried to revise the early chapters in the third person but it just didn’t work. It seemed flat. So, I went back to the first person and have not looked back since.

Is there anything you would ask Pierre if you were to meet him in real life? Or do you feel that as your character you know everything about him? What would you ask Napoleon?

It sounds odd but I think I know him well enough. As for what I would ask Napoleon, that’s a tough question, there are so many things and I’d probably be overwhelmed and tongue tied! I think the first question would be why he never went into Spain personally after the campaign of 1808. There is no doubt if he brought the Grande Armée there he would have crushed Wellington and any other opposition. But of course would that have pacified the country?

Will we learn a bit more in coming books in the series about Pierre’s childhood or his adult life before the shipwreck?

Yes, bits and pieces at a time. For a little while he will be too busy to reflect much on home but I figure I will get him back to America eventually. Definitely during the War of 1812 after Napoleon’s first abdication but I may send him back sometime between 1807-1809, to advocate on the Emperor’s behalf. His background will come to the fore again then.

Can you tell us a bit about the research for The Emperor’s American and what your writing day is like?

Well, for a good five years before I began writing the book I was immersed in the Napoleonic era. My interest had risen to the surface again and I read everything I could. Then the idea for the book came and I realized that as much as I knew, I needed more specific information, everything from uniforms to tactics, formations, commands, unit commanders and more. I would go ahead and write and look up what I needed as I went and sometimes go back and add it in.

My wife became part of the research and she was a good sport about it. She was my living combat test subject. When I was writing certain scenes she would stand with sword or musket while I would see—in slow motion—if certain moves seemed realistic.

I joined a historical reenactment group to get a feel for the uniforms, hear the sounds of drums and get a small sense of what it was like living and marching as a French soldier.

 I also spent (and spend) a lot of time shooting flintlock muskets and pistols to test the accuracy and loading times of the weapons.

As for my writing day, I usually write at night after the kids are in bed.

What was the most difficult part of writing The Emperor’s American?

Describing territory or ground as it appeared in 1804 or 1805. I was on Google Earth a lot. I spent a great deal of time studying paintings of places, photographs, descriptions, as well as long email discussions with people in Europe about particular places. The detail about Napoleon’s coronation took some time to get right.

The easiest?

Dialogue, as well as describing action and battles. I think my dialogue is the strongest part of my books and that comes from years of being a journalist and listening to hundreds, if not thousands of people, talking in many types of circumstances.

What is the most surprising piece of information you learned in the course of writing the novel?

How intense was the training of the French Army in the Camp of Boulogne. If you read the novels of Cornwell or other British authors the stereotype of the French Army was of barely trained conscripts who never trained with live ammunition, who loaded slowly and were bad shots. That might have been true of many of the replacements sent to Spain, which generally had second line French troops anyway, but the army of four or five years earlier, the Army of the Ocean Coasts (which became the Grande Armée), that had trained to invade England, was a well drilled and well-oiled machine that trained regularly with live ammunition. I believe the best British troops of the Peninsular campaign would have been no match for them. That army was greatly whittled down by the campaigns of 1805, 1806 and 1807, before they ever set foot in Spain.

What else would you like to write about? Apart from the rest of the series, do you have any other projects on deck?

Yes, I have a Napoleonic zombie apocalypse novel already completed and I will soon start looking for a publisher for it. Beyond that I am doing background research and reading for a novel about the French and Indian War, likely from the French perspective though that is still in the research and “mulling over” stage. I will begin that after the third book in Pierre’s series is done. I have just started Pierre III, however, so I doubt I will start writing about the French and Indian War until sometime next year.

Which books, historical fiction or otherwise, were/are your favorites?

Growing up my favorite authors were Tolkien and James Clavell, especially his magnum opus, Shogun. In my late teens-early twenties, while in the Marine Corps, I discovered H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan, and the South African historical novelist Stuart Cloete. Today I still read a great deal of historical fiction, especially in the Napoleonic era, though the overwhelming majority of it is from the British perspective, alas, such as Patrick O’Brian’s excellent Aubrey-Maturin series. Some of the other series I like are Mallinson’s Matthew Hervey series and Wilcox’s Simon Fonthill series. The former starts at Waterloo and continues into the decades after amidst various English colonial adventures, while the latter series covers the British colonial period from Isandhlwana through the Boer War. Last year I discovered an alternate history/universe series called Destroyermen by Taylor Anderson. I read all eight books back to back, something I never do with series, which I usually deliberately space out at least six months between books when reading.

Are you fond of any other historical eras?

Yes, I’ve enjoy reading about ancient Rome, the French and Indian War, Louis XIV, the Great Trek in South Africa, World War II, and of course the history of the Marine Corps. The history of the Corps is driven into every Marine in boot camp.

What fictional genres do you like to read?

Primarily historical fiction, but I also read Brad Thor’s thrillers, as well as some science fiction and fantasy, plus the occasional foray into the classics.

What books or authors inspired you (or still do)?

I’m a great admirer of Bernard Cornwell, despite the fact that his Sharpe series is about one of Pierre’s ostensible enemies. In some ways my series may be inspired by his Nathaniel Starbuck series, about a northerner fighting for the Confederate army. Unlike Starbuck, Pierre isn’t fighting for his nation’s enemy but he isn’t fighting for his own country either.

What book(s) are you reading now?

I just finished Cornwell’s Sharpe’s Enemy and To Honor You Call Us by Honsinger and am now reading a military science fiction novel, The Empire’s Corps by Nuttall.

Do you prefer books you can hold or are you into e-readers?

I still prefer the real thing. A book really isn’t a book to me unless it has a physical edition, but I recently got my wife’s Kindle after she upgraded to a Kindle Fire. I would never have bought one but now that I have it I enjoy it. It has opened me up to lower priced Indie and self-published ebooks I would never have known about. Some are quite good.

Thank you so much and I hope to see you again soon, as well as Pierre.

Thank you for having me here.

Art McGrath lives in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, where he is a journalist as well as re-enactor and member of the Brigade Napoleon and the 3me regiment infanterie de ligne--the French 3rd Infantry regiment of the Line. The Emperor's American is the first in a series following the adventures of Pierre Burns. Learn more about Art McGrath and the book at his author page. 

The author is so graciously offering a copy of The Emperor's American as a giveaway. For your chance to win, simply comment at the book's review blog or at its associated Facebook thread. Good luck!

If you would like Lisl to review your book or conduct an interview, please see our submissions tab above.

Lisl Reviews: The Emperor's American

Please see below for details on the giveaway!

The Emperor's American

by Art McGrath

The adventures of Baltimorean Pierre Burns, in his telling of them in The Emperor’s American, start out with a bang—literally. The first words of the opening chapter are, “The ship was ablaze” and author Art McGrath keeps us on the edge of our seats until the very end. The book is divided into chapters, not all necessarily ending with cliffhangers, but infused nonetheless with a tincture of sorts, leaving readers reluctant to let go at natural stopping points. Perhaps Burns’s circumstances—unusual to say the least—play into that, or it could be where they lead him. 

Written as a letter from Burns to Napoleon’s surviving brother, Joseph Bonaparte, who has beseeched Burns to set to paper his experiences as an American in the emperor’s army, the novel takes readers through a bit over one year of life as a French soldier.

Pierre Burns, whose French mother raised him modeling a hatred for the English, never knew his French-born Scottish father, whose brutal murder during the American Revolution also informs Pierre’s perceptions. So it is that when his merchant ship is attacked by the British and sinks off the coast of northwestern France, he is recruited into what history later knows as the Grande Armée, a force preparing to invade England.

At the start, I didn’t know what to expect of Burns, whose strong personality in the hands of a lesser author might have endangered his likeability. However, he is equipped with a balanced self awareness that enables him often to recognize the effect his words may have on others, and an ability to evaluate himself with a fair amount of honesty.

In retrospect, I can’t really blame Monge for his attitude. The open officer’s slot should have allowed him to move up to the number two slot in the company. Instead, a foreigner who became an officer that very morning was to usurp his place, at least until I permanently assumed my duties as Ney’s aide-de-camp, which might not be for some time, unless the invasion commenced sooner than everyone thought.

McGrath’s dialogue, which is not only strong and succinct, but also punctuated with perfect expressive indicators, also adds to reader experience:

I gasped. “Would they be so foolish?”

Jomini nodded. “If they think they can catch the Emperor, yes….”

Ledoyen who had listened to this explanation, jumped back in where he left off with Jomini.

Jomini shook his head patiently, like an indulgent schoolteacher.

Throughout the novel, as Burns tells us his story, we are actually able to see how characters respond, as if we were also watching rather than only reading about them. His words bring to life their actions, via McGrath’s ability to put same into simplified words that create a repertoire of complex actions, not unlike watching a skilled actor utilizing true-to-life gesticulations that match the words he hears or speaks, or the emotions he feels.

As events unfold and readers are more and more drawn into Burns’s narrative, we forget it is a letter being written and the story becomes ours. Burns shares with us his mortifications, such as when he is rebuked in front of the entire company; his infatuation with a young woman at first inaccessible to him; the methods of war he learns and his growth within that knowledge; and details of encounters that terrify as well as contribute to his expertise as a soldier and swordsman. Periodically we are given a reminder, though within methods that embrace us, rather than reveal our reading of the attachment to a letter to someone else. “How," he asks at one point, "do I draw this scene for you[?]” 

In an unexpected combat experience, following the explosion of a saboteur ship, Burns and others chase an escaped killer into a nearby warehouse. 

Long shadows danced ahead of us and on the walls from the light. The dirt and pebble floor crunched under our feet as we walked . . . For some reason I felt more fear there in the dark hunting one man than fighting dozens in that house months before. Possibly the darkness cast shadows on the mind and the silence gave us time to dwell on what could be waiting for us, the same fate that met that infantryman outside with his head bashed in.

It is this access to Burns’s vulnerability as well as his strength of character, his willingness to reveal his fear but determination to stand tall that contributes to readers being able to relate to him and thus, develop a rooted interest in how he fares. McGrath pulls off the first-person flawlessly; it is truly as if he is transcribing the actual words as Burns speaks them. In so doing, he develops a sympathetic character, neither arrogant nor overly self-effacing, who speaks to our own experiences, as contrasting as they may be to his.

As the year progresses and Burns is involved in a number of activities, all the characters continually look forward to the invasion they so fervently train for. For better or worse, life goes on and Burns participates in it, even engaging in some illegal dueling, which to me were the amongst the best scenes in descriptive and action terms, not to mention the emotive fury for all parties. Burns, like McGrath, is a watcher of people and the patterns they engage in, using them to his advantage and eventual victory.

As the overall tension builds, Burns utilizes this method in the broadest of ways, also using intuition in his judgment calls. Not everyone trusts his judgment, however, and some are outright hostile to it. These are men with a great many more years experience than he, and they know the conflict in ways he, a newbie to the country and fighting forces, will ever do. As the framework of the larger story enclosing all the inner pieces grows more apparent, the question remains as to whether Burns can reconcile the outcome with an outlook held onto for a lifetime. What if the French lose? Perhaps more importantly, what if they win?

While the Napoleonic era isn’t one I have studied extensively or, truth be told, ever really had great interest in, it is worth noting again how much this book held me. The idea of post-revolutionary Americans fighting in Napoleon’s army is an intriguing one, though McGrath has much more at his disposal than an initial fabulous idea to keep it all going. I am a great admirer of saying a lot with a little, and for this book that means two things: one, the depth of many of the characters is established artfully even with only a few appearances; and two: the longer passages, especially battlefield scenes, some of which really are quite long, kept my attention and interest as Burns analyses for us his perceptions and what they mean to events taking place. Burns—or McGrath, I’m not entirely sure which—has a way of explanation that fascinates as it reveals facets non-combatants never had cause to consider, linking them in significance one to another. While the end is satisfying for the momentary ramifications, there is more to Pierre's story on its way, and you will want to read it. 

McGrath has truly used his skills to his own advantage, to his eventual victory.

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Art McGrath lives in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, where he is a journalist as well as re-enactor and member of the Brigade Napoleon and the 3me regiment infanterie de ligne--the French 3rd Infantry regiment of the Line. The Emperor's American is the first in a series following the adventures of Pierre Burns. Learn more about Art McGrath and the book at his author page. 

The author is so graciously offering a copy of The Emperor's American as a giveaway. For your chance to win, simply comment below or at our associated Facebook thread. Good luck!

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