Author David Ebsworth
on Tour
January 26-February 4
with
The Last Campaign of
Marianne Tambour:
A Novel of Waterloo
(historical fiction – Napoleonic)
Release date: January 1, 2015
at SilverWood Books
360 pages
ISBN: 978–1781323212
SYNOPSIS
June 1815. Bonaparte has returned from Elba and marches with his army to defeat the Prussian and English enemies of France. Within his ranks is Marianne Tambour, a battle-weary canteen mistress for a battalion of the Imperial Guard’s Foot Grenadiers. Just one of the many cantinières who provide the lads with their brandy and home comforts, both in camp and also in the thick of the fight.
Marianne is determined that, after this one last campaign, she will make a new life for herself and her young daughter, since neither of them has ever known anything but the rigours of warfare. But she has not reckoned on the complications that will arise from a chance encounter with another of the army’s women, Liberté Dumont – Dragoon trooper and sometimes spy for the Machiavellian French Minister of Police, Fouché. And Marianne wonders what she really wants, this hawk-faced trooper with her visions, dreams and fancies.
Yet, for now, Liberté Dumont is the least of Marianne’s worries. Her position as canteen mistress has not been easily won and she has made enemies in the process. Lethal enemies. And creating a new life, breaking with the army, needs money. Lots of money. So when Hawk-face Dumont accidentally provides an opening for Marianne to rid herself of a dangerous rival and also extends the possibility of fortunes to be made, it looks like an opportunity too good to be refused.
The battles that both women must survive, however, at Ligny and Quatre Bras, create their own problems. The closer they come to the English Goddams, the more Marianne is haunted by the memory of the way her adopted mother was butchered at their hands just a few years earlier, in Spain. Thoughts of revenge torment her, distract her from her goals. But her daughter’s capture by the Prussians, and Liberté Dumont’s help in the quest to find the girl creates new and very different bonds, between mother and daughter, and between the two women themselves.
The climax will take place on the blood-soaked fields of Waterloo, where Marianne Tambour and Liberté Dumont must each confront their deadliest foes, their worst nightmares, find answers to the secrets of their respective pasts, and try to simply survive the slaughter. Yet the fortunes of war are not easily won, and the fates may, after all, only allow one of these women to see the next day’s dawn.
David Ebsworth’s story, The Last Campaign of Marianne Tambour: A Novel of Waterloo, is based upon the real-life exploits of two women who fought, in their own right, within Bonaparte’s army. (provided by the author)
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ADVANCE PRAISE
“Superb! David Ebsworth has really brought these dramatic events to life. His description of the fighting is particularly vivid and compelling.”
– Andrew W. Field, author of Waterloo: The French Perspective and its companion volume, Prelude to Waterloo: Quatre Bras
Praise for David Ebsworth’s novel, The Jacobites’ Apprentice, critically reviewed by the Historical Novel Society, who deemed it “worthy of a place on every historical fiction bookshelf” and named it as a Finalist in the Society’s 2014 Indie Award.
Each of David Ebsworth’s novels has been awarded the coveted B.R.A.G. Medallion by the worldwide Book Readers Appreciation Group
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Ebsworth is the pen name of writer, Dave McCall,
a former negotiator and Regional Secretary
for Britain’s Transport & General Workers’ Union.
He 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,
and The Last Campaign of Marianne Tambour is his fourth novel.
Visit his website. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter
Subscribe to his newsletter (see on the right side of the site)
Buy the book: SilverWood Books | Amazon US | Amazon UK | Abebooks | Waterstones
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TOUR QUOTATIONS
Ebsworth provides us with strong female characters that we want to see survive amid a horrible and futile battle. If you are in search of a historical fiction novel that brings to life Napoleon’s last battle and the volatile political scene of 19th century France, then I highly recommend THE LAST CAMPAIGN OF MARIANNE TAMBOUR.
A grandiose historical event delivered in animated form by a skilled author. Looking forward to more of David Ebsworth’s stellar genius.
In what is one of the more unique historic fiction tales I have read, Ebsworth has skillfully manipulated fact and fiction with deft characterization, demanding the reader’s empathy and emotional investment in a story that could have easily been a clinical and dry recount of June 1815.
David Ebsworth has done a tremendous work both with the research and writing this book. It’s very well written.
I enjoyed gaining new knowledge about the Napoleonic Wars and this is a perfect book for anyone interested in Napoleon Bonaparte, the French Revolution or/and the Napoleonic Wars. Or anyone just interested in history.
Choosing the unique and often forgotten perspective of women who fought alongside Napoleon, David Ebsworth offers a brilliant fresco of the emperor’s last battle in 1815. Remarkably researched, The Last Campaign of Marianne Tambour makes you experience Waterloo on the front-line. A must for all interested in Napoleonic wars and French history in general.
I found the story and plot rewarding and I highly recommend it to anyone that either likes history or brave heroines.
I have not read many war novels that were narrated by female narrators, so it was a unique experience to read this novel as we get to see the war from their view point. It’s very clear that the author spent a lot of time researching this novel.
I really enjoyed reading this book and know that it will appeal to those interested in major events in history especially those taking place in France.
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February 6, 2015
WordsAndPeace
France Book Tours 