Becoming Josephine
by Heather Webb
Release Date: Dec 31, 2013
Page Number: 320
Publisher Link: Plume/Penguin
ISBN-10: 0142180653
ISBN-13: 978-0142180655
Synopsis:
SEX & VIOLENCE: There is a little of each, though I didn't go into great detail in either category.
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.
Author's bio:
Heather Webb grew up a military brat and naturally became obsessed with travel, culture, and languages. She put her degrees to good use teaching high school French for nearly a decade before turning to full time novel writing and freelance editing. Her debut, BECOMING JOSEPHINE will release December 31, 2013 from Plume/Penguin.
When not writing, Heather flexes her foodie skills or looks for excuses to head to the other side of the world. She loves to chitchat on Twitter with new reader friends or writers (@msheatherwebb) or via her blog, Between the Sheets (www.Heatherwebb.net/blog).
My thoughts:
Mon Dieu, where to begin? I had no idea Rose, resurrected later by Bonaparte as Josephine, had such an interesting, turbulent, rich and yet chased seemingly by the demons of war and revolution, poverty, powerlessness and regret. Few humans can imagine such highs and such lows within one lifetime and yet still have the strength and grace to remain a lady to the very end.
Without a doubt this novel taught me so many things I did not know about Rose/Josephine and I have such a better understanding of not only the woman but the times. I have to admit that Becoming Josephine taught me much about myself, about the strength of being a survivor, about the fickle nature of not only love but also power and popularity.
I found Webb's Rose/Josephine superbly human for her gifts and her faults. I felt her prose pulled me along at times and at others slowed so that I could take in the details and appreciate the circumstances of the event that would shortly affect our Rose/Josephine, for better or for worse.
It is a wonderfully written, historically accurate portrayal of a captivating and complex woman while remaining equally, and at times more so, captivating itself.
Without a single moment's reservation I HIGHLY recommend Becoming Josephine. It is a true masterpiece.
Heather Webb, you have truly done justice to a long misrepresented and maligned woman whom I am sure raises a glass to you for your truly remarkable account of her life.
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