For the King by Catherine Delors

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.

The story opens with an extremely powerful scene, an attempted murder of the First Consul, Napoléon Bonaparte, who is passing by Rue Nicaise in his way to the Opera. Two Chouans, Pierre Saint Régent and Joseph de Limoëlan, block the street with a cart and provoke an explosion with a strange device called “La Machine Infernale”. In a few minutes, a deadly explosion kills dozens of people, innocent Parisians, but fails to get the target of their mission. Bonaparte leaves in his carriage with his escort perfectly safe. The details of the effects of the bomb are striking, I could easily imagine the horror of those who first arrive to that slaughter.

Roch Miquel is a Chief Inspector who leads this investigation. Young, handsome and intelligent, he knows the importance of finding out the responsible minds behind the attack of the Rue Nicaise, especially after seeing the consequences. He is the son of a Romani Auvergnat, Antonin Miquel, the owner of The Mighty Barrel tavern and also a Jacobite who doesn't hide his opinions about the First Consul and the government. Roch is in love of his beautiful mistress, Blanche, a married, refined and cultivated young woman who seems too perfect to be real.

As I mentioned before in Historical Tapestry conversation about For The King, I had some troubles warming up to Roch in the first half of the book. His judgments towards several people he meets all along the story really got into my nerves. He was quick to love and even quicker to hate. I often felt bad for Alexandrine about the way he treated her and her father. I do understand his background, his story but sometimes it was a bit too much rudeness for my taste. With the development of the investigation, he slowly changes his attitude and becomes less distant and less judgmental towards those who really care for him..

The secondary characters are inevitably captivating, despite their actions. I couldn't stop myself searching for more information about Saint Régent and Limoëlan. Both are responsible for the massacre in Rue Nicaise and yet, I cannot dislike them as much as I did Fouché. They fight for what they believe and if I cannot forgive them for what they did, I felt that neither could them, especially Limoëlan. He seems to have lived all his life riddled with guilt.

Now, someone I completely disliked but couldn't help feeling drawn to him was the untrustworthy Fouché, the minister of Police. He is perfect in the role of villain, an unscrupulous turncoat who switches allegiances as he see fit. He always sides with the winners, no matter what. Definitely a very dangerous man!

Joseph Fouché

The Old Miquel is definately my favorite character. He is so touching with his unconditional love for his son, even if he can be very harsh with him as a young boy. He is a man who always remains faithful to his ideals. We learn that he had a very difficult life filled with poverty, hard work and death, but he seems to enjoy life as much as he can. The details of his life in Auvergne and his work in Paris were fascinating.

The historical research behind the story is remarkable and we can feel in every page the incredible work Catherine Delors did to recreate the Post Revolutionary Paris. For those who know this city, For the King is a tremendous treat, those who don't I'm sure you'll enjoy it and you'll want to come to Paris and visit every corner mentioned in the book.

This period of French history, just after the Revolution and the first years of Napoleon as First Consul, was never really appealing to me, mostly due to my profound dislike for the future French Emperor. Catherine Delors novel didn't change my opinion but made me realize that I will read everything she writes no matter the historical period. Meanwhile, I already add Mistress of the Revolution to my TBR pile for my next vacation. Can't wait!

Grade: 4.5/5

For The King by Catherine Delors

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.

After tackling the French Revolution in her first book, Catherine Delors now uses an attempt on Napoleon's life to show the police force's investigative methods, while portraying the new society that emerged after the end of the monarchy.

In Roch Miquel, the son of a skin man turned tavern owner, she presents us with a hero whose worth is based on his convictions and abilities instead of his birth. And he is a man who believes in method, investigation and patience to discover the truth instead of the torture his colleagues use. In such precarious times though, his past and the lives of his loved ones are also connected with his relationship with Fouché, the powerful minister of Police, and Fouché's ability to stay in Napoleon's good graces.

The story opens with the description of the attack and it is not difficult to feel disgust and anger towards an action that takes as first sacrifices an impoverished child and an animal. We first get to know the perpetrators and then Roch Miquel, the policeman charged with the investigation.

It is not easy to navigate in this world where there seems to be more shades of gray than black and white. If justice for all was one of the Revolution's demands then things don't seem to be going well. People are still convicted on weak evidence just because a scapegoat is needed and if the aristocracy of previous years is now reduced to a precarious position or living in exile, the newly rich seem to behave in much the same way and social injustice seems as common as before. Not to mention that Napoleon, who is not yet emperor but is already paving the way to power by calling former aristocrats to his court and having famous artists paint his portrait and glorify him.

In the course of his investigation Miquel interviews a great number of people of different social status and motivations. He is eager to find the culprits to please Fouché but his favouritism with the Minister means he is not trusted by his superior. Fouché has his own reasons to want the men brought to justice and even leads Miquel in the right direction at first. But he has his own agenda and is not above blackmailing Miquel with his father's imprisonment to get the results he wants. The attack of the Rue Nicaise, as this event would become known, is considered the first scientific criminal investigation and at least some of the perpetrators were eventually brought to justice.

As most of the characters, Miquel is not exactly likeable in the beginning, he is too devoted to his work and has a strained relationship with his father who wants him to settle down with a friend's daughter. Miquel has his own ideas about it, and believes himself already in love with someone else. As the story progresses he will have quite a few surprises about said woman and he starts to feel more vulnerable he will also become more interesting and complex. The romantic intrigue that Delors adds to the story was nice but I felt sorry not to read more about Alexandrine, we just have a glimpse of who she was and I thought she seemed very interesting.

One of my favourite things about the story was how well Delors portrays the common people - nobody seems too surprised by having to able to account for who they are and what they are doing or by having the police knocking on their doors at all times. I was also surprised by how well organised the Royalists were, how wide were their connections and how determined they were to restore the monarchy. Then the story is populated with real people and it was really interesting to read the author's note and then going on a "googling expedition" to find out more about them. For The King is not an easy and quick read but it is definitely worth the time you spend with it.

Grade: 4.5/5

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I would like to thank the author for sending me a copy of this book. And don't forget to check HT's conversation about For The King!

Guest post from Catherine Delors - Pugs, Jane Austen, political conspiracy and mass murder

Fans of Jane Austen will remember Lady Bertram in Mansfield Park sitting on her sofa with her pug by her side. “The next time Pug has a litter you shall have a puppy,” she tells her niece Fanny. Lady Bertram can think of no higher mark of her regard.

Indeed pugs were great favorites for ladies of fashion in Regency England. Across the Channel, they were no less popular with Parisian élégantes.

Yet imagine my surprise when I found a pug dog mixed in the real story of the deadly Rue Nicaise attack, the backdrop of my new novel For the King.

What was a pug doing in the midst of this grim tale of political conspiracy? Well, it turned out that one of the assassins, Pierre de Saint-Régent, during the weeks leading to the attack, rented a room in the dingy lodgings of a poor widow, Citizen Jourdan, and her teenage daughter Toinette. The widow had found a pug, lost on the street, and brought it home.

From then on, Saint-Régent could have no rest until he secured the pug. Toinette, feeling like a fine lady with her fashionable little dog, which she called Mirza, was most reluctant to part with it. But Saint-Régent would not take no for an answer, and he finally reached an agreement with Toinette: she would trade the pug for a pretty new dress.

Please keep in mind that, at the same time, Saint-Régent was deep into the preparation of the attack, manufacturing the bomb, purchasing feet of wick to detonate it, calculating the length of the fuse to time the explosion with perfect accuracy, all that with mass murder and mayhem on his mind.

Where the story gets still more incredible is that Saint-Régent, once he had secured the pug from young Toinette, proceeded to have a dog collar custom made for it. He was very specific in his requirements: green leather, with sterling silver bells and medal. This entailed ordering the collar from a jeweler, an obvious risk at a time when it was crucial for the conspirators to keep as discreet as possible. Yet Saint-Régent deliberately took that risk. He must have been very much in love…

The pug was presented to a lady, his lady. Who was she? The actual investigation never discovered her identity, but I took the liberty of making her one of the characters of FOR THE KING.

As a novelist, I would have hesitated before making up such a detail. Who was going to believe that a cold-blooded, fanatical killer, bent on assassinating Napoléon and killing dozens of innocents in the process, would compromise all of this in the pursuit of a gift for his ladylove? Yet it is true. Life is made of such riddles.

For the King is released today (July 8). You can find out more about Catherine Delors at her website and on her blog.

For the King by Catherine Delors - A Conversation

For the King by Catherine Delors is one of the books we were eagerly awaiting in 2010 after all the buzz surrounding the author's first release, Mistress of The Revolution, one of Ana's favourite reads of 2008. Alex, Ana and Marg were happy to have received review copies and couldn't help but start discussing it soon after.

What do you think this book was in terms of genre?

Marg: Whilst it is historical fiction, it wasn't really a mystery for me. I have been trying to think of a way to describe it, and the only thing that I would come up with was a fly in a spider's web. The reader knows who the perpetrators were, but it was only as you read further you got to find out about their motivations, and more intriguingly how all the characters were connected together. There were times that you wondered exactly who was the spider and who was the fly though.

Ana: Yes, I think it's only part mystery with Roch Miquel's investigation of the attack that opens the story but it is definitely much more than that. To me it was a window to the history of that period. The political, social, economical aspects of the society that came out of the French Revolution are all represented in this story.

Alex: For The King is a story about a police investigation, but not quite a mystery, at least not for me. At the same time we learn more about the political games of the Post-Revolutionary Paris and the early years of Napoleon Bonaparte as the First Consul.

The main character in the novel is Roch Miquel, and therefore is pretty key to the reader's enjoyment. What did you think of Roch?

Ana: I didn't immediately warm up to him. I found him a bit cold at first. Too devoted to his work, to the point of serving an "evil" master, and without compassion for others. This changes as the story develops though. As I got to know him better I understood his coldness more as a defense and as his position becomes more vulnerable and makes him question himself he definitely shows a softer side with his little informant and Alexandrine.

Alex: Like Ana I had some troubles with Roch Miquel, especially in the first part of the story. He really rubbed me in the wrong way with his self righteousness. His opinions about his father's friend, Vidalec and his daughter, Alexandrine, are incredible harsh and unfair. He always seems worried about his work and his appearance (and Blanche!), but seems incapable of seeing around him the people who really care for him. Halfway through the book he slowly changes and becomes more likeable. His transformation is believable, there's no sudden change of heart, something that I really appreciated.

Marg: I think part of the strength of the characterisation of this novel is that just when you think you have know the character, you learn a little bit more about them and realise that you actually don't really know them as well as you thought.

How about Blanche?

Ana: I also had some problems warming up to Blanche. While in the end I could understand what drove her to act as she did I find myself liking Alexandrine a lot better as the female character in this story. Blanche ends up sacrificing almost everything for the cause and I actually feel that I should have liked her better than I did, she did what she had to do to get the job done and not only that didn't work but the men around her see her as less than worthy because of it.

Alex: Blanche was probably the character in this book that really left me unmoved. Since the beginning I found her annoying in her apparent perfection but you feel also that she is too good to be true. Nonetheless her dedication to the cause is something that sometimes I couldn't help but admire. I do agree with Ana about Alexandrine. She is the quiet girl, honest and strong, who is always willing to help those she loves. I really enjoyed every scene she was in (I keep wishing for more!), especially the one where Roch accompanies her to her home after a day of work at The Mighty Barrel. That was lovely!

Marg: The more we learnt about Blanche the less I liked her. I got her motivation, but the choices that were made were often quite abhorrent to me. It is hard to believe that the reader, and more importantly Roch couldn't see through her outer appearance. I guess this is one of those cases where the saying love is blind might be applicable.

Alex is lucky enough to live in Paris, (yes, I am jealous (Marg)) so we specifically wanted to ask her about the characterisation of Paris in this book.

Alex: Paris is definitely one of the main characters of For The King! While I was reading it, I often imagine myself with the book in my hands walking the streets and places mentioned in the story. The descriptions and details are so rich and gripping! I see some of these places every day, others don't exist any more (like the Rue Saint Nicaise) but I heard about them before and I could easily picture Roch running around in search of those sneaky assassins. Many books are written with Paris in the background often mentioning some of the most known places in town without going further, which can sometimes be a little frustrating. For The King seems to be born out of Catherine Delors' love for Paris and its history. This is, at my eyes, one of the strong points of this book. The Post-Revolutionary Paris was brought back to life and I enjoyed every moment.

Did you have an inkling that the title of the book was more than just a title? Did that made you think differently about the story?

Ana: I was quite surprised when I realised that it was the code name of a character. One of the things that this book taught me was that there was an active movement plotting to put the Bourbons on the throne again so I guess the title gave me pause, it made me think that the center of everything was that movement and how wide their connections were.

Alex: I was also surprised by the fact that the title was also a code name, especially when I found out it belonged to someone I really didn't expect. Later in the historical note, Catherine Delors gives us more information about this "For the King" and to whom that alias belonged originally, which I found really interesting. I was familiar with the Chouans and the Chouannerie but I never went much further than their ideals and some other small details, so this was a perfect opportunity to learn more about it.

Marg: There were lots of examples in this book of where there was a new fact revealed and then suddenly a whole lot of things either suddenly come to have more meaning or at the every least start to make sense. The title was a key example of this happening.

The obvious villains were the royalists who organised the bombing but for me (Ana) the most sinister character ended up being Fouché, Napoleon's Minister of Police, for whom Miquel worked. Who did you think were the bad guys in the story?

Alex: For me, the big, bad guy was Fouché. He is the politician nobody can trust and who would plot against his own mother if that would make him gain even more power. His background is rather revealing. He readily embraces the new ideals of the Revolution, later he turns a blind eye to Napoleon's coup d'état remaining his Minister whom he will help years later to his downfall. Of course, he manages to stay, for some time, minister of Louis XVIII and will finally be accused of regicide. A man who traitorously switches allegiance as he see fit to fulfill his own ambitions without any scruples is certainly a ruthless villain!

Marg: I don't think I have ever read a book that is set during this time where Fouche is portrayed as anything other than manipulative, duplicitous and just plain evil. Then again his rival Dubois wasn't all that much better. For the most part most of the characters were all different shades of grey. there weren't too many two dimensional, or black and white, characters in the novel.

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For the King is released on 8 July! Over the next couple of weeks we will have full reviews and a guest post from Catherine Delors, so keep visiting to find out more about this book!

More from Catherine Delors

I know that we have posted a bit about Catherine Delors new book, Mistress of the Revolution, but I just keep on coming across interesting bits and pieces around blogland. Given that we like to talk about book covers here as well, how could I not post a link to the most recent post on Catherine's blog where she talks about the process that she went through with her publishers to decide on a book cover.

Click here to see the evolution of a book cover.

16th Century France?

Just a quick link to a new to me historical fiction blog Writing the Renaissance.

Recently there was an interview with Catherine Delors, author of Mistress of the Revolution, which Ana loved so much when she read it not too long ago.

Mistress of The Revolution by Catherine Delors

This was a difficult review to write. I enjoyed the book very much and I wanted to do it justice but sometimes there are so many things you appreciate that you get overwhelmed when it comes to writing the review.

This book reads like a memoir, the heroine is looking back on her past and telling us about her life. There are only a few occasions in which we are brought back to the present and actually know her as an old woman.

This is a book about a very sensitive period in history. The French Revolution gave us the ideals we still live by today but at the same time it was a period of such blood shed that sometimes, when I read about it, the good parts pale in comparison.

The book starts as Gabrielle de Montserrat is brought to her family to live after a few years living with a nurse and then a few more in a convent completing her education. Her family belongs to the impoverished aristocracy and it is understood that she will be expected to marry well. However Gabrielle ends up falling in love with a young commoner - Pierre Andre Coffinhal - and to prevent them from being together her brother marries her to a man thrice her age when she is only 15. Said husband will mistreat her before finally dying and leaving her penniless and with a little daughter. Without any other options she accepts to go to Paris and live with an old relation. There she will be in touch with the court life and the last moments of the Old Regime. Her story is not uncommon when it comes to the history of women in general. Dependent on men to provide for her, as due to her status work can't be considered, she becomes the mistress of a rich men. Her position as Lady In Waiting to the Countess of Provence will allow her to get to know the most important personalities in the political scene. After the monarchy is abolished she is reduced to a "ci-devant" (an ex) Baroness and in a world where titles are no longer tolerated she finds herself imprisoned and in constant danger of being tried and killed just because she was an aristocrat. As the situation collapses she asks for the help of Pierre-Andree who has risen to be an important member of the Revolutionary Tribunal and a close friend of Robespierre. The relationship that they develop will allow Gabrielle and us to follow the period of the Terror and its political changes especially it what concerns civil rights. From its beginning till the moment when the leaders of the revolution end up being led to the guillotine themselves.

I found it strange at first that Gabrielle could mention so many horrifying things in a detached manner. But then it struck me that she is looking back into the past, some events are long gone and we are watching them through her eyes. The first person point of view also helps with that. It’s an interesting way of telling the story and I also found it important in a different level. She manages to convey both the old world and the new society that comes out of the revolution without being judgemental. It’s through Pierre-Andre’s character that we have most of the analysis and condemnation of the old regime and the defence of the new order. Gabrielle has a more feminine approach to reality with worries about family and friends which make her observations very interesting in a different way. I felt that last part of the book was the stronger one and why I ended up loving it so much.

The romantic element is strong but this is Gabrielle's story, not a romance, and in the end she survives and becomes stronger. When she reaches the end of her story she is in London and thinks about how twenty three years later the émigrés are returning to France as the Bourbons were restored to the throne. She, however, will never be able to go back…

The characters are interesting and I felt that the more I knew them the more I wanted to know. The historical background is really well done. We get a true feeling of the period without it taking centre stage.

One final note to say the book is populated by real people, who actually existed – starting with Coffinhal - and I really liked that.

Grade: A

Book Giveaway: Mistress of the Revolution

Not long ago, Ana posted about an upcoming release by a new author by the name of Catherine Delors. Now, over at Loaded Questions you have a chance to win one of 5 copies of the book!

Click here for the details!

Upcoming Release by a New Author

When I was contacted to receive a copy of Catherine Delors's debut book Mistress of the Revolution I was ecstatic! I love books set in France and this seems like a really interesting one, the story of a young noble woman and set in the period of the French Revolution.

Mistress of The Revolution is a March release by Dutton.


The book synopsis is as follows:

Set in opulent, decadent, turbulent revolutionary France, Mistress of the Revolution is the story of Gabrielle de Montserrat. An impoverished noblewoman blessed with fiery red hair and a mischievous demeanor, Gabrielle is only fifteen when she meets her true love, a commoner named Pierre-André Coffinhal. But her brother forbids their union, choosing for her instead an aging, wealthy baron.

Widowed and a mother while still a teen, Gabrielle arrives at the court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette in time to be swept up in the emerging cataclysm. As a new order rises, Gabrielle finds her own lovely neck on the chopping block—and who should be selected to sit on the Revolutionary Tribunal but her first love, Pierre-André. . . .

Replete with historical detail, complex and realistic characters (several of whom actually existed), and a heroine who demands—and rewards—attention, Mistress of the Revolution is an unforgettable debut.

A stunning new talent in historical fiction makes her debut with a novel perfect for readers of In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant