Genre: History (non-fiction)
Heat level: Spicy (The French Revolution was most definitely
R-rated at the very least!)
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Earlier this week, my hairdresser asked me where I get my
ideas from. I know plenty of other authors who gain inspiration by reading novels
in their own genre. I get mine from the history books. Truth is, history is often
more unbelievable than fiction, and in the hands of a good writer, it really
comes alive.
The Marquis: Lafayette
Reconsidered by Laura Auricchio (@Auricchio_Laura) fits the bill. Granted, the Marquis de Lafayette’s life story needs no embellishment to be exciting,
but I’ve read plenty of history books that manage to drown the drama in a sea
of names, dates, and places. Ms. Auricchio tells the story of the man, starting
with his upbringing, which I knew almost nothing about, all the way through to
his death.
I’m fascinated by the American and the French Revolutions.
How could two conflicts that started with seemingly similar goals have followed
such completely different paths? Following Lafayette’s career helps us see that
vast difference between the goals of these revolutions in a much clearer contrast.
Lafayette started out as a young man
interested in glory much like other young aristocrats of the time. However, he
has an idealistic spirit that rather quickly, if not immediately, wins him the
admiration of George Washington – a man not easy to impress. After the
Revolution ends, he goes home to France where his early role in the French
Revolution earns him a reputation as “the hero of two worlds.” Unfortunately
for Lafayette, it doesn’t last.
Lafayette would probably be what
we call a moderate today (never a popular stance when tensions are high), and
his failure to emphatically join either side eventually makes him persona non grata in a time when that
could be quite deadly.
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Unbelievably, he appeals to the
United States for what must be one of the first cases of political asylum. He
had been granted citizenship by one of the states (Connecticut I think), but
that was not honored, and his request was denied. Actually, I’m not sure it was
outright denied so much as it was just caught up in Congress. (Think it’s bad
today? You haven’t ready enough history books.)
I’m always amazed that Lafayette didn’t
lose his head (literally) in the French Revolution, but to an odd stroke of “luck”
or divine intervention (you decide), he ends up sitting out some of the worst
days of the reign of Terror in an Austrian jail.
While Lafayette never relocates to
the United States, in what seems to me as a magnanimous example of “letting
bygones be bygones,” he comes back for a 14-month tour of the now-24 states in
his adopted country in 1824. He dies ten years later and is buried in Picpus
Cemetary in Paris, France. I’m not ashamed to say, I got a little teary eyed
while reading about his funeral.
For those of you who are fans of
the marquis, I’ve got a couple of related posts about Lafayette and the
secondary role he played in my very first novel: Le Chevalier that you might enjoy:
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