The Game of Hope

  • Type: Books
  • By: Sandra Gulland
  • Age Category: Teens
  • Genre: Historical Fiction
  • Recommended by: Tom S.
  • ISBN/UPC: 9780425291016
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There's no such thing as an ordinary day if you're Napoleon's stepdaughter

Hortense Beauharnais, daughter of Napoleon’s wife Josephine, is less than elated about being a family member of the hero of post-revolutionary France.  She finds the General himself brusque and moody; his extended family, according to Hortense, is even worse.  She’d rather be attending the boarding school where she is a star pupil and cultivating her ambition to become a musician and composer.  But the General does have one very handsome military aide who becomes a serious distraction to Hortense’s scholarly pursuits.
 
This book only covers about two years – the period from Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign up to the start of his tenure as First Consul of France.  But it is well-grounded in the culture of the day, offering details on everything from political machinations to food (and, this being France, wine) to contemporary theater. 
 

 

Includes plentiful notes and backmatter that demonstrate the author’s impressive grasp of the subject.