Source: Publisher via France Book Tours

+Blog Book Tour+ Citadel [Book 3: of Languedoc Trilogy] by Kate Mosse

Posted Thursday, 20 March, 2014 by jorielov , , , , 5 Comments

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Citadel by Kate Mosse
Published By: William Morrow (@WmMorrowBks)
(an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers (), 18 March 2014
Official Author WebsitesSite | Twitter | Facebook
Converse via: #KateMosse, #LanguedocTrilogy, #Citadel, #FranceBookTours, & #HistFic
Available Formats: Hardcover and E-Book
Page Count: 704

Acquired By: I was selected to be a tour stop on the “Citadel” virtual book tour through France Book Tours. I received a complimentary ARC direct from the publisher William Morrow, in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Encouraged to Read:

Mum has a foresight of knowledge of which books would whet my appetite for not only historical intrigue but deft story-telling, where the research slips past the reader’s eye, and allows one to insert one’s heart directly into the core of the narrative! I am always on the forefront of discovering ‘a genuine new voice in literature’ because I am always inspired and captivated by such an eclectically diverse sphere of writers! I like to seek out stories which not only challenge convention but the perceptional eclipse we might unintentionally tether ourselves too! I like to broach outside my comfort zones whenever possible, and sink into a portion of the historical past which is wholly unknown and unvisited previously! My literary adventures draw me one step closer to the world’s front door and a breath closer to empathy for the unsung heroes of a past fraught with drama, suspense, and intuitive souls who choose to lead rather extraordinary lives! In this intuited glimpse into my reader’s heart, Mum purchased Labyrinth for me whilst it was in paperback (as I recollect!?) release. I had oft meant to endow myself to the page, yet I never quite managed to broach into the novel. On the brink of a blog book tour in the bookish blogosphere, I find myself able to redeem my ill-wrought wanderings, bringing me full circle back into the realm of Kate Mosse! How fruitious it is that her name resonated with me whilst offered on tour!

Inspired to Share a Snippet of a Preview:

I originally intended to read the first two novels in the  series Labyrinth & Sepulchre ahead of my book review for Citadel via France Book Tours. However, as life can dictate and quite often predict, the plans we set in motion are occasionally derailed for circumstances which arise altering our reading adventures! Therefore, I am stepping into the world of Kate Mosse’s literary threshold without prior knowledge of her characters nor of the direction in which her style illumines the narrative for the avid reader of her works! I am quite eager to read the forementioned previous titles on the footheels of this installment, but for now, I am overjoyed I have the pleasure of ‘meeting’ a new author of whom has held my intrigue for the years between Labyrinth & Citadel releases!

Kate Mosse discusses “Citadel” & ‘Sisterhood’ via Orion Publishing

Book Synopsis:

From the internationally bestselling author of Labyrinth and Sepulchre comes a thrilling novel, set in the South of France during World War II, that interweaves history and legend, love and conflict, passion and adventure, bringing to life brave women of the French Resistance and a secret they must protect from the Nazis. In Carcassonne, a colorful historic village nestled deep in the Pyrenees, a group of courageous and determined operatives are engaged in a lethal battle. Like their ancestors who fought to protect their land from Northern invaders seven hundred years before, these women—codenamed Citadel —fight to liberate their home from the Germans.

But smuggling refugees over the mountains into neutral territory and sabotaging their Nazi occupiers is only part of their mission. These members of the resistance must also protect an ancient secret that, if discovered by the enemy, could change the course of history.

A superb blend of rugged action and haunting mystery based on real-life figures, Citadel is a vivid and richly atmospheric story of a group of heroic women who dared the odds to survive.

Author Biography:

Kate MosseKate Mosse is the multimillion selling author of four works of nonfiction, three plays, one volume of short stories and six novels, including the New York Times bestselling Labyrinth and Sepulchre. A popular presenter for BBC television and radio in the UK, she is also cofounder and chair of the prestigious Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction (formerly the Orange Prize) and a member of the board of the National Theatre of Great Britain. In 2013, she was named as one of the Top 100 most influential people in British publishing and also awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to literature. She divides her time between England and Carcassonne, France.


A Prelude to Citadel:

An absolute blessing of mine in receiving an ARC (advanced reading copy) to read of a novel, is the inclusion of both the Editor’s Note (generally found on the inside first page!) and/or a letter from the publisher which gives a bit of a history of how the novel was created or a bit about the author herself! For Citadel, I was twice-fold blessed! Not only was the Editor’s Note included but so was the publisher’s! I am fascinated truly by the marketing and promotional campaigns by publishers to alert the readership of an author’s work! Even for new readers of Mosse’s stories like me for instance, cannot help but become caught up in the excitement and the reverence of honour she is bestowed by her dedicated readership! IF a sequel to her last tome took four years, can you imagine how long we shall all be willing to wait for her next treasure of literature?!

The best of stories have to soak into their creators, they have to wholly absorb the characters, the setting, the era, and the entirety of the story’s essence in order to fully bring everything to illuminating light. I celebrate writers like Mosse who cherish the ‘process of writing’ and allow themselves the full measure of grace to produce heart-stopping narrative time and time again! At least this is my presumption prior to broaching the pages!

I’m entering this particular review a bit blind to the knowledge of Ms. Mosse, as when I read her championing spirit for bookish culture, writers, and wordsmiths I must confess my heart did a bit of skip and a jump! Especially on noting I had already planned to make an appearance on a Blog Talk Radio podcast the night prior to this review posting in which I would be drawing to light a topical bookish interest: volunteer public libraries set on trains running through New York City and London! A kindred spirit, most indeed!

Dear hearts, do you know what William Morrow included as a ‘extra special’ surprise for this particular book blogger!? OR, should I clarify, it wasn’t placed inside for ‘me’ in particular mind you, but rather those who received the ARC! A full-on brilliant interview by Ann Patchett & Kate Mosse! A most delectable treat I held off reading until ‘after I had read Citadel’!

A proper Introduction to the novel by the author:

There is an amazing breadth of history pulled out of World War II, where brave souls stood up in our conjoined living history of a time in our world where nothing made sense and everything was turnt upside down by the cruelty and evil of a world war. Mosse examines the inter-dimensional connections of the trilogy against the intricacies of research of the historical past. Her passion for the South of France and for this particular window she’s served as a portal for her audience to endear themselves to the women who stand strong allowing their courage to bolster us a bit in the present. These are stories on behalf of women who perhaps never saw themselves as heroes but to every life they positively affected they were! Mosse has such an effervescent passion for writing, and giving her readers such a full embodied story which can wash over you and give you a living experience.

Kate Mosse Over Citadel via bol.com {she speaks in English; Dutch subtitles}


 

An archaeological bent of historical intrigue:

From the time I was quite young, I was always caught up in the annuls of history, seeking out remnants of the past which could be brought into the present through the art of story-telling! My passion for history led me to consider bunkering into a life pursuit of archaeological digs, hidden ancestral passageways into the living past, and a life’s sole intent of preserving the artifacts I’d uncover. Ever since my eyes lit up with the pure joy of ‘digging in the dirt’ by theory not practice, I have had a keen attention placed on historical details in novels. Including ancient symbolism,  dead languages, and the turnt of phrase fashioned centuries within the past where Old English was the everyday vernacular! Part of my interests in seeing the sociological perspectives in stories and the dynamics of a character’s action verse personality is rooted in my appreciation for archaeology’s introverted sister: anthropology which focuses on the study of societies and how people lived.

To find an author who has transmorphed an intricate range of research into a dense tome of historical fiction whilst remaining true to each era she’s brimming to life inside her narrative is nothing short of literary brilliance! I oft wondered if I could find an author who could fully immerse the reader’s senses into what I felt I had shared within my spirit whilst previously considering an entirely different lifepath! In Mosse, I do believe I have at long last found the writer, the wordsmith, and the story-teller I have sought so hard to find! And, I have my Mum to thank for this lovely discovery as my gratitude is hers forevermore!

My previous readings of Illuminations and A Study in Murder allowed me to understand the monk’s (Arinius) traditions of matins, sext, and nones! There is an entire pace to living whilst your sliding into a moment in history where tradition and ritual intersect and spirituality endeavours to give a calming balm to one’s day.

My Review of Citadel:

Oh, my oh dear my, such a delightful author who includes not only a full-on brilliant map to orientate the reader into the realm of the historical past she’s about to embark on visiting, but she is given an acute alacrity of the principal cast and characters in a proper pronouncement ahead of the beginning of Chapter I! Oh, my dear hearts, this reader was over the moon entranced by these short few pages,… wretched and jolted out of my reverie of an unsuspecting opening which would bring the level of brutality witnessed by survivors and members of resistance forces during World War II came startling into view as soon as I broached the Prologue. The recollections of my joyous heart can wait, the narrative cannot! I not merely ‘sense’ the urgency, I sense it! I am breathing it in with each drip of words formulating the paragraphs. A dire race is afoot and I am on the brink of understanding the fullness of its scope! The novel births unto the page with each delicate turnt page, words extending themselves into the edge-most sections of its published space; a murmuring echo of its story eager for the eyes of the reader to grasp its heart!

Mosse has a clever eye for evoking peripheral psychological hauntings of a world set askew by war. She invites you into the mind of her characters whilst they brace and bolt to live through a day of hell. Fraught with human anxiety and fears of what happens to those who are captured, the imagery is not a brutal one in totality but rather, a stark remembrance of the reality of being on the ground, running and scavenging for safety. I was quite startled to be pulled out of Southern France during World War II to arrive at the doorstop of AD 342, and yet, that is precisely where my timeclock registered me on the first page of Part I! I murmured to myself this might be a time slip, generational in-depth and millennia in scope!

Meeting Arinius as he made his journey to free the Codex text he believed to be absolute truth ahead of dipping into Sandrine’s world in 1942; the year she was eighteen, two years past her mother’s death was quite the unique place to enter both of their lives. Each were on the footfalls of reaching a new pathway in their lives which would transform their futures. Sandrine was not unlike her age of peers, where she was standing on the tipping stone of adulthood, eager to greet the morrow and make her way in life. She was thirsty for experience and for the sweetness of freedom outside the stagnant pattern of her days. Sandrine comes from an ethereal section of France, where murmurings of spirits and of divine knowledge echo out across the land and encroach on the open hearts and minds of those willing to listen.

I appreciated the symbolism of Sandrine’s thoughts being interwoven and threaded as a knitter’s skein of fiber! The observation is at the closing end of Chapter 7, but it simply warmed this knitty girl’s heart to see one of the clever turnt phrases to be a reflection of an interest held most dear! I can oft relate to how she felt; muddle yet unclear of the placement of the events and memories. Uncertain if memory is the fault or if memory is the key to understanding what happened. We can become caught up in ourselves to where we second guess our instincts and the intuition that is a constant guide.

Sandrine was still an innocent as her hometown of Carcassonne was evolving into a deadly sufferage of wills between those who first would commit harm to gain secrets within the arms of the war and those who would rally to bolster the shield around the innocents who died. Her older sister Marianne sheltered her younger sister too well, in not giving her the ability to see past the illusion of memory. Her spirit stirred and soared standing in the warming sea of voices raised high for the liberation of France. She was starting to put the pieces of the picture together, forming her own opinion where her life was leading her and how where she was living was all but directing its course. She was thrust into the throes of war without the foreknowledge to understand its intricacies. Yet. I mused if perhaps this was almost a better approach? To not be as self-aware at first in order to have the courage in the long-term to act without a thought for yourself but to act to protect and free people you might never know?

History has a unique way of imparting important acknowledgements out of the past, by finding the ways in which the words can travel through vessels of time. Words handed and passed down through generations, from family to stranger seeking a confidence of protection is one of the most reliable methods of keeping knowledge secret from eyes who would take the same words and twist them into harmful deeds. It’s how we as a society react and root out resilience in the face of our foremost dire fears and shake away the rootings of evil. Resistance from oppression and the strife of a regime bent against the welfare of the people is true courage lit aflame.

Sandrine, Marianne, their close friends, and French Resistant fighter Raoul are being shadowed by a thrilling chase against time. By the time my mind realised the full perimeter of the story, I was all but rushing to find my voice to shout-out a decree of bravery I was slowly losing sight of as I watched how their individual plights grew more dim. The hardest time in life to latch onto Hope is when every effort you make to walk out of the adversity you have lived through starts to unfold and uncoil around you. You fight as hard as you dare, you believe as willingly as you dream, but in the end, without the additional help of others acting on your behalf; you can find yourself truly alone betwixt a choice for flight, freedom, or the valor of saving lives.

Sandrine is an intuitive woman who was set apart from others; she could see past the veils of our reality and into the next life just beyond our focus. She was tuned into mystical truths which gave her a bolster of strength in the nanoseconds where her own inner resolve faltered. Her life was writ to be in service of others, and in of giving all of her mind, body, and soul to fighting for the sanctity of life, liberty, and freedom. Citadel is epic in scale, emotionally convicting, and powerfully written to leave you quite still at its conclusion retrospectively museful, and enlightened. Your heart shatters and aches in an indescribable way when you read the four sentences on page 673. With eyes too blurry and a heart too gutted to carry-on into the Epilogue.

 

Fly in the Ointment:

In this instance, it is more of a forewarning for a sensitive heart reading the book, as although I was quite thrilled to see Mosse tempering the harsh realities of war and giving us a proper sense of the danger, the blight, and the misery without fuller details which would make even a strong man gag; there are passages where naturally the narrative has to take a sharper intact of detail. Where the horrors of the war during World War II under the Nazi regime are represented for what they were and how they were elicited out through the ranks. Before I reached Chapter 14, I languished in the beauty of the words which felt like soft pebbles rather than hardened spikes of a war drama. I am not sure why, but Chapter 14 re-presented the reality for me, where Antoine is being tortured into submission. Except to say, Mosse holds back, she gives you the ease to breathe and to realise although your being led into one of the darkest corners of the past, inside history’s dark hours, you are going with a guide who respects what you can handle and the elements of which you cannot. And, how she maintains this balance between the evil darkness and the light is a credit to her as a story-teller.

The most sickening part though lies in the truth inside the torture for information: that there are certain people who feel that inflicting unimaginable pain is justified in the end if it yields a response they are searching to hear. Mosse gives you a lot to muddle over and ruminate about as this is a novel whose layers are half-hidden and seen throughout the action of where the story evolves into being. There is a greater message than a recollection of war-time horror, survival, and courage. We are never quite as alone as we fear we have been cast out from our protective spheres of love’s embrace. Always guided over and protected by the Ones we cannot see but sometimes can hear as our heart listens for the cues our eyes have forgotten to see.



Virtual Road Map for “Citadel” Blog Tour:

Citadel by Kate MosseBe sure to scope out upcoming tours I will be hosting with:

France Book Tourson my

Bookish Events badge created by Jorie in Canva


A parting glimpse behind the esoteric elements of the Languedoc Trilogy: 

Kate Mosse discusses Citadel, myths and fantasy via Orion Publishing

I must confess, I am always quite curious about how each of us selects which book we want to engage in. With Mosse, I feel as though I was always meant to be a reader of hers, but the timing hadn’t quite aligned for me to broach her writings until ‘this moment’ whilst I am participating on a blog book tour with France Book Tours! Do you ever find there is a particular time for you to soak into a narrative or an author? What do you think prompts the discovery to be a bit delayed from our initial moment of curiosity!? Also, have you read each of the Languedoc trilogy books as they released, or did you discover them out-of-order!? I’d be keen to hear your recollections and ruminations on behalf of either Citadel, Kate Mosse, or the trilogy! I do know, it will not be long from now before I am reading the first ‘two’ installments to have the richness of the tapestry expanded inside my mind!

{SOURCES: Cover art of “Citadel”, book synopsis, author photograph of Ms. Mosse, author biography, and the tour host badge were all provided by France Book Tours and used with permission. The book trailer by Orion Publishing had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portal to this post, and I thank them for the opportunity to share more about this novel and the author who penned it. Blog Tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Tweets were able to be embedded by the codes provided by Twitter. Bookish Events badge created by Jorie in Canva.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

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Posted Thursday, 20 March, 2014 by jorielov in 20th Century, Biographical Fiction & Non-Fiction, Blog Tour Host, Bookish Films, Clever Turns of Phrase, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Fantasy Fiction, Feminine Heroism, Fly in the Ointment, France, France Book Tours, French Literature, French Resistance, Geographically Specific, Haunting & Ethereal, Historical Fiction, Historical Thriller Suspense, Interviews Related to Content of Novel, The World Wars, Wordsmiths & Palettes of Sage

*Blog Book Tour*: Becoming Josephine by Heather Webb

Posted Thursday, 2 January, 2014 by jorielov , , , 9 Comments

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Becoming Josephine by Heather Webb

Becoming Josephine - France Book Tours

Author is a Member of: Historical Novel Society

Visit her Pin(terest) Board: Eclectically French Inspired Lovelies (my impression!)

Author Connections: Facebook | Site | Blog

Converse on Twitter: #BecomingJosephine OR Tweet @MsHeatherWebb

Published by: Plume, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA), 31 December 2013

Available Format: Trade Paperback | E-Book | Page Count: 320

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Acquired Book By:

I was selected to be a stop on “Becoming Josephine” Virtual Book Tour, hosted by France Book Tours. I received “Becoming Josephine”  in exchange for an honest review by the publisher Plume. The book released on 31st December 2013. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Inspired to Read:

I simply adore historical fiction, including historical biographical fiction, which I think this falls under, as it’s about Bonaparte and his wife! I like the backdrop of the story, and how strong Rose had to become in order to overtake her plight! You see, I have a bit of a long-standing admiration for the French Revolution, even though by many estimates I have only just begun my sojourn into this fascinating section of literature! It’s true I was first inspired to seek out more French Literature selections after having borrowed and read quite a few from my local library which fall inside Children’s Literature selections, in as much as my appreciation for seeing a select few classic motion pictures on TCM (Turner Classic Movies) involving Marie Antoinette over the past few years! My attention is thus esteemed to continue to seek out stories set before, during, and after the French Revolution! What can I say? Once you become attached to the living characters of whom most of the books are based upon, in as much as the characters created to walk amongst their living counterparts, you find that one book or five is not quite enough to fully encompass the history of what is left behind to be known!

Stemming from this short history of mine with French Literature, there was a cursory exploration of Bonaparte whilst I was eighteen! Having ducked out of a heavy rainstorm and into the warmth glow of a bookshoppe I had accidentally discovered along a main street – I took the balm of books against nature’s thunderstorm! As I wandered around, I remember finding a rather curious little book, tattered yet readable, (as the bookshoppe sold new and used copies!) about the life of Napoléon Bonaparte! Intrigued I purchased the book and stored it inside a rain-proof bookslip! Ever since that aplomb discovery I have whet my appetite for more! I would be curious to learn how you alighted to read about the French?

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Heather WebbAuthor Biography:

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 début, 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). Stop on by!

Synopsis of the Novel:

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.

 

Forging a path where uncertainty reigns:

When I was first introduced to Rose (later, Josephine), I was empathic towards her plight and situation straightaway, as who couldn’t sympathise with a sister mourning her sister’s sudden death? Especially if one would feel indebted to believing they were the root cause of said death? I was attempting to imagine the thoughts and emotions not only her sister’s death evoked but how that singular event shaped her for the path she was embarking to walk as she made her way towards France, towards Paris, and towards the great unknown of marriage to a man she never had met, much less knew. Although I am oft wrapped inside a ‘mail-order bride’ story, this one felt more like an ordained arranged marriage to where the outcome would befit the family moreso than the bride! Such the calamity of ages past, and yet, the realism with which the author pens the opening bits of the story give us a true glimpse of the horror Rose faced as she disembarked onto the docks!

I couldn’t help but consider Rose might not have realised just how deep she would become involved with creating a transformation which would replace her original self with the one she would soon invent!? You start to see pieces of the transformation shaping in the early chapters, as she starts to find quirks of hers are not kosher to the Parisians way of living. Little things such as her accent, her manner of speech, her inclination of honesty, her lack of a proper wardrobe, all acting against her in an attempt to create a better impression on her peers and fiancé! Your heart warms to her, as she starts to sort out how to navigate this world where propriety and posh behaviour reign!

She would come to know the solemn truths of marriage, of men and their infidelities and of the way in which women were ill-treated by their husbands. She gets a dashing blush of this ahead of her vows, but I think the reality of her new life took a bit longer to fully sink into her conscience. Where other women might have resolved that this was their fate to bear, Rose took the opposite path and decided that she was worth more than what the cards had dealt her! She decided to right the wrongs, and seek out a path which would lead her to an enlightened truth about herself and her station.

My Review of Becoming Josephine:

Becoming Josephine by Heather WebbShe left her Creole home an innocent of youth, jettisoning herself into a life in France which would test the strength of her inner resolve. Where she would have to eradicate her natural being of self into a transformed Parisian woman of elegance, whose strength would yield to power. She took on the challenge as an understudy would in a theatrical play. Learning through being bold in her choices of dress, style, mannerisms, and speech. Each nuisance she could alter of her previous life, she would discard straight-away in preference for discovering a better fit for high society.

Watching Rose grow in her strength as she separated from her first husband, Alexandre, she starts to find the courage she felt she had lost. Instinct of motherhood guides her towards carving out a stipend for her son Eugene and daughter, Hortense whilst she starts to put the pieces of her own fractured life back together. Her resilience is a lesson for all women who find themselves facing circumstances that they were not expecting. The fact she was gaining her independence on the eve of revolution was not lost on me. Perhaps without her circumstances jaded, she might not have had the ability to rise again? Or, rather she might not have found the strength to survive through the worst bits of the revolution. She walked through Hades in order to survive to live a life she could no longer imagine possible.

I found an undercurrent theme of which I had been exposed to in my readings during 2013, wherein certain women who were once cloistered to living life by man’s rules were coming to realise the true freedom lay in the courage to free themselves from the invisible bonds which held them hostage. I am always attracted to stories where strong women are at the heart of the narrative and in Becoming Josephine I was not disappointed! Josephine emerges out of the wings of despair as a pivotal woman of her time who could wield more than even she (I feel!) could desire! She takes the boldest step into the future by reinventing herself past the point of recognition, in order to find a freedom she had never known.

France set to Revolution:

The backdrop of Becoming Josephine is quintessentially Revolutionary France, where the French hinged between the start of the revolt and the ensuing Reign of Terror. A shuddering of emotions always rings through me whilst thinking on the harder hitting realities of the age which the French had to endure. Webb has a way of acknowledging the back-story of history behind the coattails of the character’s lives in such a way, as to gently guide the reader forward and through, rather than shocking us to our core. The revolution ekes out in small fashion, where rumours of revolt start to erupt in the salons of the day, and where the commoners start to realise they need to launch into a retreat from Royal rule. Part of me understands this and part of me grieves for the loss of the Royal family, due to how brutal the Revolution turns and ends.

And, yet at the heart of the center core of the Revolution you have Josephine and Napoleon, two people I never thought I’d see come together, now that I know the origins of Josephine’s past. The tapestry of fashion is lit and gilded behind the tumult which has been brewing to explode. Interspersed with the flamboyance of cloth and jewels, you gather the sense of urgency in the fever of desperation.

Gratitude to the author, Ms. Webb:

For staying true to her word, wherein she mentioned at the end of the book’s synopsis she had tempered the severity of inclusion of sex and violence. I am generally on the fence with choices writers make in their stories on both counts, as there are lines I think are too oft crossed, where a more delicate omission could have sufficed instead.  In this particular story, Ms. Webb gives the reader a rendering of the situations and events which befit the era of the story’s origins but on the level that even a sensitive reader could walk through the scenes without blushing too severely or cringing at the imagery painted in narrative. Even though she does plainly give the raw visceral imagery its due course. She doesn’t allow it to take over completely, but allows it to fade in the background. Except for what occurs in Rose’s home of Martinique and what happens when she returns to Paris, in which the horror of the attacks are in full measure. Rather than focus solely on the horror that erupted she gave the smaller details of the aftermath which proved just as difficult if not moreso to read. Such a horrid time in history for the survivors to have lived through. She chose instead to direct the focus on Rose’s rise into the persona of Josephine who became the woman’s edificial Phoenix.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

The “Becoming Josephine” Virtual Book Tour Roadmap:

Becoming Josephine - France Book Tours

Be sure to scope out upcoming tours I will be hosting with:

France Book Tours

on my Bookish Events Featured on JLAS!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

I propose this Question to my readers: What do you think is the overall appeal to reading about the Bonaparte’s and of Revolutionary France in general? What inspires us to dig deeper into the heart of the history which has been left behind for us to dissect? What gives us pause and reason to continue to seek out stories of what was happening in the shadows of history being writ as it was lived? Do you have a favourite coaxing storyline that gets you excited to pick up your next reading which is set in this historical era?

{SOURCES: Cover art of “Becoming Josephine” as well as Heather Webb’s photograph and biography, the blog tour badge were all provided by France Book Tours and used with permission. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Blog tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. France Book Tours badge created by Jorie in Canva.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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Posted Thursday, 2 January, 2014 by jorielov in 18th Century, Biographical Fiction & Non-Fiction, Blog Tour Host, Debut Novel, France, France Book Tours, French Revolution, Geographically Specific, Historical Fiction, Josephine Bonaparte, Napoleon Bonaparte, Reign of Terror, Revolutionary France, The Napoleonic War Era

*Blog Book Tour*: The Consolations of the Forest by Sylvain Tesson

Posted Tuesday, 10 December, 2013 by jorielov , , , 2 Comments

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The Consolations of the Forest byThe Consolations of the Forest by Sylvain Tesson, Translated by Linda Coverdale
Published By: Rizzoli Ex Libris (imprint of Rizzoli Publications, Inc.),
17  September 2013
Official Author Websites: Page sur l’auteur (in French);
Tesson @GoodReads
(in French)
Available Formats: Hardcover
Page Count: 256

Acquired Book By: I was selected to be a stop on the blog book tour for “The Consolations of the Forest” hosted by France Book Tours. I received a complimentary copy of “The Consolations of the Forest” in exchange for an honest review by the publisher: Rizzoli Ex Libris.  As I stated on a previous non-fiction tour stop, I am being rather active in seeking out non-fiction titles to read! I am naturally drawn into the natural world, which is why this felt like a good fit at the time I requested a stop! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Inquisitively Curious to Read: I must say, I have always been intrigued by Siberia, and I started to watch his interview on the link you provided but all I truly understand from it, is the beautiful and sweeping vistas he’s sharing through the photographs he took whilst he was there! Oh, my dear heavens!! The landscape and ‘sense of place’ is evoking a stir in me to read this book! I am very attached to the natural world, and I am finding myself drawn into non-fiction books such as these that explore a connection and a sense of wonder which exhumes reverence &/or ruminative contemplation!

Sylvain Tesson

Author’s Biography:

Sylvain Tesson is a writer, journalist, and celebrated traveler.
He has been exploring Central Asia—on foot, bicycle, and horse—since 1997.
A best-seller in his native France, he is published all over the world—and now in the United States. 

Interview with Sylvain Tesson via Le Figaro (Magazine) (also in French)

On his six months spent in the Siberian Forest

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BOOK SYNOPSIS:

The Consolations of the Forest by Sylvain Tesson

 A meditation on escaping the chaos of modern life and rediscovering the luxury of solitude.

 Winner of the Prix Médicis for non-fiction, THE CONSOLATIONS OF THE FOREST is a Thoreau-esque quest to find solace, taken to the extreme. No stranger to inhospitable places, Sylvain Tesson exiles himself to a wooden cabin on Siberia’s Lake Baikal—a full day’s hike from any “neighbor”— with his thoughts, books, a couple of dogs, and many bottles of vodka for company. Writing from February to July, he shares his deep appreciation for the harsh but beautiful land, the resilient men and women who populate it, and the bizarre and tragic history that has given Siberia an almost mythological place in the imagination.

 Rich with observation, introspection, and the good humor necessary to laugh at his own folly, Tesson’s memoir is about the ultimate freedom of owning your own time. Only in the hands of a gifted storyteller can an experiment in isolation become an exceptional adventure accessible to all. By recording his impressions in the face of silence, his struggles in a hostile environment, his hopes, doubts, and moments of pure joy in communion with nature, Tesson makes a decidedly out-of-the-ordinary experience relatable to the reader who may be struggling with his or her own search for peace and balance in life. The awe and joy are contagious, and one comes away with the comforting knowledge that “as long as there is a cabin deep in the woods, nothing is completely lost.”

Reader’s Note: If you look at the cover art on Tesson’s book you will find slightly raised lettering for the title & subtitle section as well as the author’s name. The essence of the book cover for me is the painting of the isolated and extreme disconnection which Tesson experienced whilst on his six-month sojourn into the wild! I love the ruggedness of the design, as if the book itself was kept in his knapsack as he lived and traveled whilst jotting down his ruminations and observations! The book as well as the man returned back to society a bit weathered and all-knowing of mysterious truths not yet revealed to the wider audience. In this vein of thought, I felt it was best to view the cover in its fullness of glory if only to impart the richness of design! Let me know what it evokes inside your own mind’s eye in the comments section below!

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Taming the Wild Thoughts of Man

I can relate to Tesson’s ambition to pull back from the chaotic swirling of our everyday lives to the brink of where we lose sight of the honest truths about why we are here in the first place. We can become so muddled and clogged by our modern lives, where the natural environment which always lives just a finger touch away from us — dissolves as though it were never there at all. The act of living through the paces brings all of humanity a further step backward to acknowledging the larger picture of ‘where’ we are whilst we walk our journey ‘on Earth’ due to the limited sense of space. The natural world is a wonderful place to walk and abide in a cleansing of our inner life’s turmoil of spirit. Nature has a way of enveloping us in such a warm embrace as to allow time itself to stand suspended. If we are mindful of our surroundings, realising that we are entering into a habitat for which we are only the causal visitor, the experience of what our eyes can drink in and our heart can eclipse through sensory perceptions has an intoxicating allure!

Releasing ourselves into the mercy of nature is what I think any person might at first struggle with coming to terms with as by our very internal nature, we as humans, want to control all the possible outcomes of our actions. In which full effect goes to reason, if we can control our own probabilities how do we learn to suspend logic, reason, and a time-locked certainty of events?

I had a feathering of a chuckling whilst observing Tesson as he first embarked on his journey towards the Taiga itself, whereupon he had to pick up his provisions for his six-month exodus! The bugs I had barely begun to even wonder about even if I have a true-to-life impression of what kinds of bugs one might find out in the wilds of a forest! No, it was the irony of sorting out what to purchase and what to take that struck my fancy the most! As if you were to think back on your last extended stay travel plans, don’t you find that no matter how well-prepared you were in theory, there was always a measure of error in never realising what you should have included instead!? I was pensively lying in wait to see if any of what he proposed to take was not limiting of what he needed to take! Although I must say, I think if everyone took a bit of time to declutter their lives of unessential extravagance if only for a short-term experiment, we all might find the joy in the unexpected simplicity which grows our hearts the closest towards empathy and understanding.

When you start to pull back the layers of your outer world as it merges with your inner world, you start to see the pieces of the tapestry unravel as the stitchings are given new markers. We can effectively change our stars if we are willing to forsake one way of living to embrace a new path of towards enlightenment. In which we are truly living a more humble truth of existence compared to one which is hinged to the cyclic chaos that all to often becomes the norm. Tesson prompts the reader to contemplate their own choices in what they have chosen to forego in their own lives in place of a way of living that is set to a different standard than modern society. Each of us can transcend ourselves onto a path of living in the fullness of a moment and in the realness of a community which extolls the virtues of community spirit which by extension our lives are enriched in greater joy.

A full embrace of the Natural World’s Rhythmic Cycle

As he started to sink into the natural world’s rhythmic cycle, Tesson was allowing his mind to jettison into the realm between where man’s world ends and nature’s begins. I love his unique perspective of describing nature as it inhibits itself from progressing forward and/or makes radical adjustments to proceed with its ancient murmurings of Wintry ablations. Each step forward for the forest, gives him a curious eye towards how microscopic we truly are out where the rules of man are out-ruled by the natural order of life itself.

Not one to shy away from imparting his somewhat cheeky and viscerally stimulating images on the reader who picks up his journal of lamentations, Tesson finds a clear path towards the reader’s imagination being stimulated by the mere thought of what his eyes are taking in off the page! The sheer force of raw nature bubbling to life and etching itself closer to where his tiny cabin lay squat and square by the shore of a massive lake! The brutal truth of how far by foot he would have to travel if he were in need of another human’s presence! I was even whet with curiosity over the close proximity of neighbours of whom might not be as companionable nor as conversative but rather would be more keenly focused on invading or scrimaging with his host country!

I could relate to his intriguing fascination with each wonderment he betook before him, because anyone who has stood still, reflectively pensive and a mind lit open to pure joy will understand the addiction of ‘seeing’ what the natural environment will next reveal to you! There is an aching of belonging to those who tread into the natural depths of where nature resides. The longer you walk alongside our wild inhabitants, noting their routines and nodding at their ordinary moments, the more your apt to find yourself at internal peace. It guides you back, beckoning you to resume where you left off, as though you had only placed a bookmark on a page where you could return back to the story in progress. In some ways, this is a true observation, but the hitching in your chest as you wonder how the animals are fairing in your absence, or how many deep sighs of woe the trees are billowing out of their upper boughs until you drop by again for a visit? This is something that only those who have become awakened can understand and fully respect.

As a turtle who ambles along the forest floor gathering moss and algae on its shell, so too, do humans leave an illuminant trace of their wanderings. Niches of our footprints carving into the order of things, ringing in our presence as each new day we visit gleams into view. The interconnected web of our lives are forever stitched together with the fowl, mammal, and amphibian who takes a measure of a mirth out of their day to stare into our eyes as our paths cross their own. Strangers and foe, yield to acquaintance and friend. Companions outside of their own species whose respect for the other knows no bounds.

To Philosophise, Elucidate, or Elidiate? Is this a Question?

Whilst he continues to go about his ‘new normal routine’ of surviving in mind-bending low temperatures, Tesson takes on a bit of an outer dialogue of his state of place. There are moments where you are curious if the questions he is proposing are to a common explanation of what all men might have considered from one era or another. OR, if his murmurings were the tiny envelopes of discovery he was knitting together whilst being away from every piece of modernism he could escape. He gives short spurts of adjective stylings of his observations, glimpses of what is going on ‘right then’ as he were to leave his journal and pen, in order to stoke the fire or denote the severity of the conditions outside. A man in pause of his new living reality. Therein, we start to see the freshness of his eyes, how keen his observations are becoming and how heart-warming it is that he took the courage to share them with all of us in the form of a book!

I think whilst he was living through this journey towards a deeper self-acceptance and self-transcribed inner record of growth, he was stumbling into writing down key insights that some of us might not notice even if we had half of a proper lifetime to curate the experiences! He has a clever way only a man would find interesting to give us a full sense of his reasonings, and in this, I smile. He isn’t one to be bashful, but he isn’t one to not notice the eloquence of seeing what can be seen yet is not always given the freedom of acceptance.

His ruminative nature of sensing the expanse of time and its ability to be slowed down by certain actions which suspend its power to contract is the mark of someone who sees the beauty of walking. Walking is man’s one way of stilling the passage of time, simply by refusing to allow time to speed past what man is willing to walk against. It very well may be the one singular power we have that few of us attempt to use to our own advantage. The ages have always enquired the elasticity of time and its errant mannerisms for first alighting at a slower speed before kicking into high gear past the speed of light. What causes the shift in perception of time? Is it our actions and our living patterns? Or is it the perception of ‘place’ and ‘setting’ and ‘of being’ that alters how the clock counts its seconds? What if time could blink still and resume at the very same moment your thoughts were centered at a fixed point in nature? As the patterns of time out-of-doors is run against a hidden pattern of synchronicity it is plausible that we effectively could forestall a bit of time whilst inhabiting a well-worn path for foot traffic.

My Review of The Consolations of the Forest:

I have always known that the particular pace of our individual lives was set to a rather high extreme of inefficiency as far as the quality of life being extracted at too high of a cost. I was most likely clued into this at a young age due to the insanity of my own father’s 24/7  time-clock of profession. You start to see the little fragmented ripples in the sphere of life. Where as you intersect with time, it is time itself that becomes your greatest lesson and teacher. You nourish the hidden moments which are blind to your eyes as you live, but are unearthed out of necessity and/or through a determined mother’s insistence of having the family kept together even if the father’s hours were mad-crazy bent against it! In those quiet and sombering hours, you start to see the little ripples of what sets your family apart from others’ who are in the same professional grid.

Where one family might have taken the same course as those before them, mine started to breakaway and create a new path forged out of a desire to create a better life which would sustain themselves long after the work day ended. A curious attachment to a slower pace of acknowledging the rhythms of life was only the beginning. Seeking out a full circle change of season, and community interconnectedness took a much longer quest to uncover! Where the locality of place led to a local excursion of food sources, community-spun events, a natural nod and wink to seasonal joys, and an inertia of earthen artistianal crafts.

In Tesson’s journal of solitude in Siberia, I see reflections of my own heart’s desire to unlock a path towards withdrawing from the regular pace of my own life and world. To where I am not forever hinged to the clock but rather, am the one who winds the cogs to match my own rhythm. To live around others who take extreme pleasure in walking through fog-lit streets and forest passageways which led to a quiet dawn. To feel the dirt fall off the fruit and veg at a farmer’s market held in all tentacles of weather and climate. Conversations boiled to life over exchangements of literature, art, cultural co-mingling events, and the passages of nature’s graceful hand in front of us. There is a heart-rhythm to living and a soul’s earthly quest to re-align itself with a pace which exhumes the internal truths of from whence we came and thus will once again return.

A Curious Footnote:

I thought it was rather smashing of a coincidence that some of the very same books I am including on my classical literature reading list for when I join “The Classics Club” in January 2014 were listed as part of the books Tesson hauled into the Taiga! Books such as: The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, Walden by Henry David Thoreau, Twelfth Night or What You Will by William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare, The Thousand and One Nights (The Arabian Nights) by Unknown, The Complete Novels by Ernest Hemingway, Tao Te Ching bt Lao Tzu, The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain,… his surprising choice was of the book I chose to abandon in fourth grade out of sheer boredom: “Robinson Crusoe” by William Defoe. I would have presumed he would have taken Jack London!?

I must also lay a bit of gratitude to the translator, Ms. Coverdale who turnt French into English in such a drinkable way as to soften the words into a walkable feast!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comThe “Consolations of the Forest” Virtual Book Tour Roadmap:

Be sure to scope out upcoming tours I will be hosting with:

France Book Tours

The Consolations of the Forest (Alone in a Cabin on the Siberian Taiga) by Sylvain Tesson
Published by Rizzoli Ex Libris on 17th September, 2013

Public LibraryAdd to RiffleFormat: Hardcover
Source: Publisher via France Book Tours
Genres: Memoir, Non-Fiction
Pages: 256

on my Bookish Events Featured on JLAS

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Continuing my discovery of Baikal, the Lake in Siberia by which this book enchanted my mind:

{SOURCES: Cover art and book synopsis of “The Consolations of the Forest”,  Sylvain Tesson’s photograph and the blog tour badge were all provided by France Book Tours and used with permission. Blog tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. An excerpt was originally meant to be included but was not ready at time of posting my review. Tweets were able to be embedded due to embed codes taken directly from each tweet on Twitter for sharing purposes. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. France Book Tours badge created by Jorie in Canva.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2013.

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Posted Tuesday, 10 December, 2013 by jorielov in Author Interview, Blog Tour Host, Bookish Films, Debut in United States, France Book Tours, Journal, Life in Another Country, Nature - Essays, Non-Fiction, Seclusion in the Natural World, Travel Narrative | Memoir, Vignettes of Real Life, Vulgarity in Literature