Posts tagged ‘Napoleon’

The Conversation: official realease day today

The Conversation Banner

Today is the official release day of

The Conversation

 

The Conversation

Author Jean d’Ormesson

on Tour

December 2-6

with his

The Conversation:
The Night Napoleon Changed The World

Translated by Timothy Bent

[historical novel]

 Release date: November 6, 2013
by Arcade Publishing

ISBN: 978-1-61145-905-0
also available as an ebook

    128 pages

***

If you would LOVE to read
this historical novel
and are able to post your
review
on YOUR blog
on one of these days,
December 2-6
please send me an email at francebooktours at gmail dot com
and fill in this form (only once)

***

SYNOPSIS

After pulling the French people back from the abyss of chaos and misrule, Napoleon Bonaparte is on the brink of declaring himself emperor. “An empire is a Republic that has been enthroned,” he says. And so history is made.

As Napoleon stands at the precipice of his new empire, Jean d’Ormesson’s novel The Conversation: The Night Napoleon Changed the World captures a fictional conversation in which the thirty-year-old, struggling between revolutionary ideals and his overwhelming thirst for power, declares his secret intention to ascend the throne.

Second Consul Jean-Jacques Cambacérès, a brilliant law scholar and close ally, bears witness to the birth of this self-created legend: a man who left his mark upon time not through birth, but with ambition, and whose hubris is still invoked as a cautionary tale. Their imagined conversation brilliantly captures the tenuous moment when one man’s dream becomes reality. History, of course, records Napoleon’s dizzying triumphs and subsequent fall. [provided by the publisher]

***

Jean d’Ormesson is the author of more than fifteen books, has a PhD in philosophy, graduated from the École Normale, and is a distinguished member of the Académie Française. He lives in Paris.

Timothy Bent has translated a number of books from French, including Brassaï’s Henry Miller: The Paris Years, Emmanuel Carrère’s I Am Alive and You Are Dead: A Journey into the Mind of Philip K. Dick, and Stéphane Audeguy’s novel, The Theory of Clouds. A former editor at Arcade Publishing, St. Martin’s Press, and Harcourt, he is currently Executive Editor, Trade, at Oxford University Press in New York, where he focuses upon history, biography, and current events.

***

PRAISE FOR THE CONVERSATION

“D’ORMESSON SEIZES THE FRAGILE MOMENT WHEN A MAN’S AMBITION TURNS THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN.” —LE POINT

“In this imaginary conversation between men, a sort of docufiction, d’Ormesson focuses brilliantly on the man who would be emperor.” —Le Récit

***
Remember:

for each book you review
for France Book Tours,
you will be entered into a monthly giveaway
to win the featured book of the month
OR a $15 gift card of your choice!

Jean d’Ormesson on Tour: The Conversation

The Conversation Banner

The Conversation

Author Jean d’Ormesson

on Tour

December 2-6

with his

The Conversation:
The Night Napoleon Changed The World

Translated by Timothy Bent

[historical novel]

 Release date: November 6, 2013
by Arcade Publishing

ISBN: 978-1-61145-905-0
also available as an ebook

    128 pages

***

SYNOPSIS

After pulling the French people back from the abyss of chaos and misrule, Napoleon Bonaparte is on the brink of declaring himself emperor. “An empire is a Republic that has been enthroned,” he says. And so history is made.

As Napoleon stands at the precipice of his new empire, Jean d’Ormesson’s novel The Conversation: The Night Napoleon Changed the World captures a fictional conversation in which the thirty-year-old, struggling between revolutionary ideals and his overwhelming thirst for power, declares his secret intention to ascend the throne.

Second Consul Jean-Jacques Cambacérès, a brilliant law scholar and close ally, bears witness to the birth of this self-created legend: a man who left his mark upon time not through birth, but with ambition, and whose hubris is still invoked as a cautionary tale. Their imagined conversation brilliantly captures the tenuous moment when one man’s dream becomes reality. History, of course, records Napoleon’s dizzying triumphs and subsequent fall. [provided by the publisher]

***

Jean d’Ormesson is the author of more than fifteen books, has a PhD in philosophy, graduated from the École Normale, and is a distinguished member of the Académie Française. He lives in Paris.

Timothy Bent has translated a number of books from French, including Brassaï’s Henry Miller: The Paris Years, Emmanuel Carrère’s I Am Alive and You Are Dead: A Journey into the Mind of Philip K. Dick, and Stéphane Audeguy’s novel, The Theory of Clouds. A former editor at Arcade Publishing, St. Martin’s Press, and Harcourt, he is currently Executive Editor, Trade, at Oxford University Press in New York, where he focuses upon history, biography, and current events.

***

PRAISE FOR THE CONVERSATION

“D’ORMESSON SEIZES THE FRAGILE MOMENT WHEN A MAN’S AMBITION TURNS THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN.” —LE POINT

“In this imaginary conversation between men, a sort of docufiction, d’Ormesson focuses brilliantly on the man who would be emperor.” —Le Récit

***

VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR SCHEDULE

Monday, December 2
Review + Giveaway at Enchanted By Josephine

Tuesday, December 3
Review + Giveaway at I Am, Indeed

Wednesday, December 4
Review + Excerpt + Giveaway at
Musings of a Writer and Unabashed Francophile

Thursday, December 5
Review + Giveaway at Words And Peace

Friday, December 6
Review + Giveaway at Making My Mark

***

Heather Webb on Tour: Becoming Josephine

Becoming Josephine banner

Becoming Josephine

Author Heather WEBB

on Tour

January 2-11, 2014

with her historical novel:

Becoming Josephine

 Release date: Dec 31, 2013
from Plume/Penguin

    320 pages

***

SYNOPSIS

Rose Tascher sails from her Martinique plantation to Paris to trade her Creole black magic culture for love and adventure. She arrives exultant to follow her dreams of attending Court with Alexandre, her elegant aristocrat and soldier husband. But Alexandre dashes her hopes and abandons her amid the tumult of the French Revolution. Through her savoir faire, Rose secures her footing in high society, reveling in handsome men and glitzy balls—until the heads of her friends begin to roll.
After narrowly escaping death in the blood-drenched cells of Les Carmes prison, she reinvents herself as Josephine, a socialite of status and power. Yet her youth is fading, and Josephine must choose between a precarious independence and the love of an awkward suitor. Little does she know, he would become the most powerful man of his century- Napoleon Bonaparte.
BECOMING JOSEPHINE is a novel of one woman’s journey to find eternal love and stability, and ultimately to find herself.
(SEX & VIOLENCE: There is a little of each, though I didn’t go into great detail in either category) [provided by the author]

***

ADVANCE PRAISE
[AS FEATURED ON THE AUTHOR’S WEBSITE]

“Webb adds new frisson to the often fictionalized travails of an unlikely empress…Although the book covers the same ground as many other treatments of Josephine’s life and times, Webb’s portrayal of the range of Josephine’s experience—narrow escapes from bloodshed and disease, dinner-table diplomacy, and her helpless love for Napoleon, her children and a small dog—is exceptionally concise and colorful. A worthy fictional primer on Empress Josephine.” KIRKUS
 

Perfectly balancing history and story, character and setting, detail and pathos, Becoming Josephine marks a debut as bewitching as its protagonist.”Erika Robuck, author of Hemingway’s Girl

“With vivid characters and rich historical detail, Heather Webb has portrayed in Josephine a true heroine of great heart, admirable strength, and inspiring courage whose quest is that of women everywhere: to find, and claim, oneself.”  Sherry Jones, bestselling author of The Jewel of the Medina

“Josephine’s warmth and complexity comes to vibrant life in this fascinating novel rich with vivid historical detail.”Teresa Grant, Author of THE PARIS AFFAIR

“Vivid and passionate, Becoming Josephine captures the fiery spirit of the woman who stole Napoleon’s heart and enchanted an empire. Susan Spann, author of The Shinobi Mysteries

“A fast-paced, riveting journey, Becoming Josephine captures the volatile mood of one of the most intense periods of history—libertine France, Caribbean slave revolts, the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars—from the point of a view of one of its key witnesses, Josephine Bonaparte.” Dana Gynther, author of Crossing on the Paris

“Spellbinding . . . Heather Webb’s novel takes us behind the mask of the Josephine we thought we knew.” Christy English, author of How to Tame a Willful Wife and To Be Queen

“Enchanting prose takes the reader on an unforgettable journey . . . Captivating young Rose springs from the lush beauty of her family’s sugar plantation in Martinique to shine in the eighteenth century elegance of Parisian salon society. When France is torn by revolution, not even the blood-bathed terror of imprisonment can break her spirit.” Marci Jefferson, author of Girl on the Gold Coin, Thomas Dunne Books, 2014

***

VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR SCHEDULE

Thursday, Jan 2
Review + Giveaway at I Am, Indeed

Friday, Jan 3
Review + Giveaway at Queen of All She Reads
Review at Jorie Loves A Story

Saturday, Jan 4
Review + Giveaway at The Most Happy Reader

Sunday, Jan 5
Review + Giveaway at Flashlight Commentary
Review at Books A To Z

Monday, Jan 6
Review + Giveaway at Caffeinatedlife.net

Wednesday, Jan 8
Review + Giveaway at Words And Peace

Thursday, Jan 9
Review + Giveaway at Enchanted by Josephine

Friday, Jan 10
Interview at Enchanted by Josephine
Review at Ciska’s Book Chest

Saturday, Jan 11
Special Spotlight at Enchanted by Josephine