The Game of Hope

Paris, 1798. Hortense de Beauharnais is engrossed in her studies at a boarding school for aristocratic girls, most of whom have suffered tragic losses during the tumultuous days of the French Revolution. She loves to play and compose music, read and paint, and daydream about Christophe, her brother's dashing fellow officer. But Hortense is not an ordinary girl. Her beautiful, charming mother, Josephine, has married Napoleon Bonaparte, soon to become the most powerful man in France, but viewed by Hortense at the outset as a coarse, unworthy successor to her elegant father, who was guillotined during the Terror. (Summary from Amazon)

I love the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Era, so I was definetly excited to read this book. It's very good and interesting. I loved learning about the same time, but from someone else's point of view. I knew very little about Hortense and her life, so it was great to learn something new. I also enjoyed learning more about Josephine and Napoleon's family, especially Caroline, she seems like a pistol of a woman. It was also sad knowing that Hortense's life doesn't go exactly how she wished.

This was the first book I've read by Sandra Gulland, however I'm ready to read more of her work. Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres, specifically when history is interwoven with fiction, like with this book. Plus, the back of the book is filled with more information that would send any history buff into a rabbit hole of googling.

I received a copy from First to Read.

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