Shannon Selin
Autor de Napoleon in America
Sobre El Autor
Créditos de la imagen: Shannon Selin
Obras de Shannon Selin
Etiquetado
Conocimiento común
- Nombre canónico
- Selin, Shannon
- Nombre legal
- Selin, Shannon
- Fecha de nacimiento
- 20th Century
- Género
- female
- Nacionalidad
- Canada
- Lugar de nacimiento
- Biggar, Saskatchewan, Canada
- Lugares de residencia
- Canada
- Educación
- University of Saskatchewan (BA Political Science)
University of British Columbia (MA Political Science) - Ocupaciones
- Writer
- Organizaciones
- Historical Novel Society
- Biografía breve
- Historical fiction writer Shannon Selin is the author of Napoleon in America, which imagines what might have happened if Napoleon Bonaparte had escaped from exile on St. Helena and wound up in the United States in 1821. Her short stories have appeared in The Copperfield Review and CommuterLit. Shannon blogs about interesting things she has come across in her research at shannonselin.com. She lives with her family in Canada, where she is working on the next novel in her Napoleon series.
Miembros
Reseñas
Estadísticas
- Obras
- 6
- Miembros
- 20
- Popularidad
- #589,235
- Valoración
- 3.6
- Reseñas
- 2
- ISBNs
- 4
I was immediately taken with this novel. Selin's writing style (you can read an rel="nofollow" target="_top">excerpt at the author's website) sucked me in from the first page.
The narrative is peppered with diary entries, letters, newspaper articles, and other missives to round out the story as we experience it. (I just died of happy reading the diary entry by John Quincy Adams, then Secretary of State, wrestling with the news of Napoleon's request for asylum.) The feel of the book is slightly 19th century, which I enjoyed; the writing is wordy and philosophical.
While the cast of characters is huge, there's enough context in the story to understand who is who if one doesn't want to flip back to the list of characters included at the end.
More than once, I had to remind myself this was wholly fictional, not a fictionalized account of events that really happened. The strength of this book comes from Selin's ability to keep this story from being ludicrous, despite the outlandish plot. Her Napoleon is slightly delusional and very ambitious, surrounded by supporters and allies who bolster and encourage him. Every decision made felt realistic and possible, and I read hungrily to see just how things would end. (I found myself kind of rooting for Napoleon to be successful!)
Included are two pages of sources and seven pages of who's who. There's no historical note as the events of the novel are entirely fictional; historically, Napoleon dies in May of 1821, without having escaped from St. Helena, while Selin starts the novel just a few months earlier, in February.
A fantastic read for fans of French history and those who like 'what if' kind of stories; any fan of Napoleon will want to read this, too, and imagine a world where this might have happened. Those new to speculative fiction should give this a try -- it's dangerously addictive!… (más)