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For the King

by

Catherine DELORS

335 pages

Published in 2010 by Dutton

MY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS BOOK

When I was in 7th grade, I wrote a long paper on the Chouans. So it was fun meeting them again in this great historical novel. It is a fast speed book, though the plot gets more and more complex, just as complicated as the French history of the time, with all its intrigues and various spheres of influence. If you are interested in the Napoleonic era in France, you should definitely read this book. It shows you, for instance, that France had to go from many more tough years after its Revolution.
On the complex hsitorical context, the author adds some romance and some difficult decisions for the conscience of a policeman. If you wanted to keep your head on your shoulders in those days, you had to be so careful about whom you pleased or displeased. This is real history.

WHAT IS IT ABOUT

For her first novel, Mistress of the Revolution, which the Associated Press dubbed one of the “best reads of the year,” Catherine Delors earned comparisons to Tracy Chevalier and Philippa Gregory. In For the King, she again demonstrates her matchless ability to illuminate key turning points in history while weaving a gripping story about a man caught between his heart and his integrity.
The Reign of Terror has ended, and Napoléon Bonaparte has seized power, but shifting political loyalties still tear apart families and lovers. On Christmas Eve 1800, a bomb explodes along Bonaparte’s route, narrowly missing him but striking dozens of bystanders. Chief Inspector Roch Miquel, a young policeman with a bright future and a beautiful mistress, must arrest the assassins before they attack again. Complicating Miquel’s investigation are the maneuverings of his superior, the redoubtable Fouché, the indiscretions of his own father, a former Jacobin, and two intriguing women.
Based on real events and characters and rich with historical detail, For the King takes readers through the dark alleys and glittering salons of post-revolutionary Paris and is a timeless epic of love, betrayal, and redemption. [goodreads]

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Catherine Delors was born and raised in France. She graduated from the University of Paris-Sorbonne School of Law and became the youngest member of the Bar of Paris at the age of twenty-one.

She later moved to the United States and passed the California Bar. She worked at a few large American law firms before setting up a solo practice following the birth of her son.

She now splits her time between London and Paris, while remaining a partner in an international law firm based in Los Angeles.

Her second novel, For The King, was published in July 2010. Catherine is currently writing on a third novel, a prequel to Mistress of the Revolution. She is also researching a fourth one, which shall revolve about Jane Austen and her French connections. [from Catherine’s website]

REVIEWS BY OTHERS

Delors follows Mistress of the Revolution with a gripping historical that chronicles the efforts of a young police inspector to capture the men responsible for trying to kill Napoleon Bonaparte. After a botched assassination attempt on Napoleon kills several bystanders, chief inspector Roch Miquel races to find the men responsible. His investigation is hindered by corruption and jealousy among his colleagues in the police force, notably from Fouché, the stridently unsavory minister of police, who, in order to keep Roch under his thumb, imprisons Roch’s father under false pretenses and threatens to have him deported. Meanwhile, Roch finds some comfort in his married mistress, Blanche Coudert, who has a very unfortunate secret that will harshly complicate Roch’s already precarious situation. It’s not a surprise that Delors’s sympathies are with her hero, and his adversaries are depicted as satisfyingly despicable. Themes of class conflict, the messy process of change, and impossible love are nicely woven into the tense central plot of this fast-moving chase through the damp, rutted streets of turn-of-the-19th-century Paris. [Publishers Weekly/amazon]

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