A sweeping historical debut about the Creole socialite who transformed herself into an empress
Readers are fascinated with the wives of famous men. In Becoming Josephine, debut novelist Heather Webb follows Rose Tascher as she sails from her Martinique plantation to Paris, eager to enjoy an elegant life at the royal court. Once there, however, Rose's aristocratic soldier-husband dashes her dreams by abandoning her amid the tumult of the French Revolution. After narrowly escaping death, Rose reinvents herself as Josephine, a beautiful socialite wooed by an awkward suitor--Napoleon Bonaparte.
"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 Reviews
"Webb holds up a light into the inner recesses of a fascinating and contradictory woman . . . Becoming Josephine is an accomplished debut."--New York Journal of Books
"Heather Webb's deft
storytelling sweeps the reader into the world of Rose Tascher, the Creole girl
who would become the Empress Josephine Bonaparte. Rose leaps to
life from the first page, a lovable, believable character who must seek her own
place in a tumultuous, almost unbelievable era in France. Her compelling
tale, enriched with sumptuous detail, dazzles. Don't miss it!"Â --Lynn Cullen, bestselling author of Mrs. Poe
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"A debut as bewitching as its protagonist." --Erika Robuck, author of Hemingway's Girl and Call Me Zelda
Readers are fascinated with the wives of famous men. In Becoming Josephine, debut novelist Heather Webb follows Rose Tascher as she sails from her Martinique plantation to Paris, eager to enjoy an elegant life at the royal court. Once there, however, Rose's aristocratic soldier-husband dashes her dreams by abandoning her amid the tumult of the French Revolution. After narrowly escaping death, Rose reinvents herself as Josephine, a beautiful socialite wooed by an awkward suitor--Napoleon Bonaparte.
"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 Reviews
"Webb holds up a light into the inner recesses of a fascinating and contradictory woman . . . Becoming Josephine is an accomplished debut."--New York Journal of Books
"Heather Webb's deft
storytelling sweeps the reader into the world of Rose Tascher, the Creole girl
who would become the Empress Josephine Bonaparte. Rose leaps to
life from the first page, a lovable, believable character who must seek her own
place in a tumultuous, almost unbelievable era in France. Her compelling
tale, enriched with sumptuous detail, dazzles. Don't miss it!"Â --Lynn Cullen, bestselling author of Mrs. Poe
Â
"A debut as bewitching as its protagonist." --Erika Robuck, author of Hemingway's Girl and Call Me Zelda
"Vivid and passionate." --Susan Spann, author of The Shinobi Mysteries
