Get ready for a fabulous blog post!
Why?
Because not every author is able to travel to their designated sites to do research. Debra Borchert is an exception to this. She has traveled to Egypt and knows the land and the culture--especially pertaining to the early 19th century culture of the country and Napoleon Bonaparte's "expeditions" there.
One of the most useful and powerful tools a writer can have is the experience of visiting a landscape and culture that is foreign to him/her. By seeing artifacts and history from a designated land, one can better describe and paint a picture with words about the air, the terrain, and even wildlife native to a novel's world-building--not to mention what was going on in the time-period of one's plot.
When researching my Antonius Trilogy, I also visited Egypt and it was probably the most phenomenal trip I've ever undertaken. Granted, Debra and I researched totally different periods, sixteen hundred years apart. However, descriptive elements in a book thrill you, and your eyes and heart are opened to new places because of them, I encourage you to take the time and read Debra's highly detailed and entertaining post this week. It's truly excellent.
Welcome to Brook's Scroll, Debra! Your work is most welcome here!
Read ON, everyone!
ALL ABOUT THE BOOK
As Napoleon Rises from the Ashes of The French Revolution, One Woman Dares to Spy Against Him
Sentenced to eight months in an insane asylum for the crime of impersonating a man, Geneviève LaGarde fears giving birth in a filthy cell will mean certain death for her and her unborn child. Desperate for her release, her husband, Louis, trades his freedom for hers and must join Bonaparte’s army in Egypt.
As Geneviève wages her own war against the tyrannical general, she not only risks her own life but also those of her children and the four hundred families who depend on the Château de Verzat estate. Knowing her desperate actions could cause the government to confiscate the entire vineyard, she sacrifices everything to save her husband and protect the people who become her family.
A captivating tale of the power of love, hope, and courage, and the strength of community.
Bonaparte’s Egyptian Campaign
Debra Borchert
While researching Her Own War, the third book of the Château de Verzat series, I was surprised to learn that the 1798 French government, the Directoire, funded Napoleon’s journey to Egypt, to not only find and own a shorter trade route to the East, but also to wage war. Napoleon veiled his military intent by bringing a team of about one hundred and sixty scientists who devoted their research to the principle of Enlightenment. The first political cartoon, created by a British satirist, exposes this charade.
The Pursuit of Knowledge, printed by James Gillray, courtesy Wiki Creative Commons.
Napoleon’s campaign provided a perfect obstacle for my characters. Separating my two protagonists by an ocean presented a natural conflict, but that meant I’d be researching another country. I’d spent ten years researching France, and although conducting research on 18th century Egypt would be extensive, I couldn’t resist.
Fortunately, I have visited Egypt, and, to this day, I remember the fine-as-talcum-powder sand coating my skin, nostrils, eyelashes, and teeth. The hardships Napoleon’s troops endured—merciless desert heat, sandstorms, starvation, thirst, plague—intensified my characters’ actions to survive.
Bonaparte’s most celebrated battle was the Battle of the Pyramids. As works of art often glorify heroes, authors cannot rely on them to depict reality. I watched films that took place in the desert to influence my writing of desert warfare.
Mamelukes, mighty warriors who rode stallions and wielded pistols and scimitars while gripping their horse’s reigns in their teeth, were formidable enemies. Thousands of foot soldiers ran along, collecting spent pistols, corralling runaway horses, and dragging away bodies. If the sight of thousands of these equestrian demons was not terrifying enough, they and the foot soldiers screamed battle cries accompanied by clashing brass bells fixed to the horses’ saddles and leather straps.
Napoleon ordered his troops to hold their fire until hearing the order to do so, thereby reserving ammunition. He implemented his strategy of “square formations,” impenetrable rectangles of soldiers defended by a line of artillery on all four sides and a canon at each corner, at this battle where twenty-nine French soldiers and approximately ten thousand Mamelukes were lost.
Buoyed by his conquest, Bonaparte went on to attempt victory over the Ottoman Empire, which was backed by the British. Napoleon failed in numerous battles as the plague ripped through his camp. He soon abandoned his troops and returned to France.
I wondered how the remaining French soldiers felt knowing they’d never see their homeland or loved ones again. What desperate actions might they have taken to return home?
Historians interpret facts to determine the social aspects of events. They must ask themselves: What were people thinking at that time? I found political cartoons revealed the juiciest tidbits.
In the second cartoon, Napolean leaves his angry, emaciated, dismayed soldiers in the middle of the desert and boards a ship possessing a two-faced figurehead, each looking in the opposite direction. The bodyguards that accompany the general clutch bags of loot, and Napoleon points to a scepter and imperial crown floating in the sky, his future.
Having been victims of Bonaparte’s strategies, my characters were familiar with his lack of character, and they suspected what their commander might do. They possessed intelligence that was valuable to the enemy. Although my characters accompanied Napoleon and remained with him in Egypt for thirteen months, my characters strategized and carried out other plans before their general could abandon them.
Of course, their insubordination is a perfect setup for the next book.
(at right)Buonaparte leaving Egypt, printed by James Gillray, courtesy Wiki Creative Commons.
ALL ABOUT DEBRA!
Debra Borchert has had many careers: clothing designer, actress, TV show host, spokesperson for high-tech companies, marketing and public relations professional, and technical writer for Fortune 100 companies. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The Christian Science Monitor, and The Writer, among others. Her short stories have been published in anthologies and independently.
A graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology, she weaves her knowledge of textiles and clothing design throughout her historical French fiction. She has been honored with a Historical Novel Society Editors’ Choice, Publishers Weekly BookLife Editor’s Pick, and many other five-star reviews.
CONNECT WITH DEBRA
Twitter: @debraborchert
Goodreads
BUY THE BOOK!!!
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Thank you for the fabulous post! Wow, wasn't Egypt life-changing?! And our eras were so far apart, yet "young" eras in the scheme of Egypt and its pyramids and tombs and temples! Such gorgeous art was breathtaking. Many thanks, Book!
Thank you so much for hosting Debra Borchert on your lovely blog today. What a fascinating post! Take care, Cathie xo The Coffee Pot Book Club