The De Stael Escapades

Hello Lovelies, last year I had the opportunity to read "A Generation of Poppies" by Saga Hillbom, which followed a period of history I'm not super familiar with as it's not one of my obsessions. It was fantastic, an amazing novel that also taught me a lot about WWI. 

This month I got the opportunity to do an arc read of Saga's "The De Stael Escapades" following the infamous De Stael family in their campaign against Napoleon. In the novel we follow Germaine De Stael's family through the eyes of her younger son and daughter. We meet such characters as Lord Byron and several monarchs (let's be honest I cared less about them than about a writer). Anyway, we follow their campaign through Sweden, Vienna, Russia, Denmark, etc; gathering allies to defeat napoleon. The story continues through his resurfacing, through his eventual defeat and all the way through past Germaine's death until we reach yet another season of political unrest...Do I smell a sequel? Quite possibly. 

Firstly, I know next to nothing about Napoleon or that time of history. I know who Napoleon was, I'm not that naïve, I know he was incredibly short and a dictator in France...yep that about sums it up. What I didn't know before reading this book was that Napoleon was meant to be a solution to the monarchs that came before him...Though as often happens, the solution got a bit of a big head and decided to turn into an even worse monster. Hooray, I'm rolling my eyes if you can't tell. But, that was still a very interesting tidbit. 

Secondly I had never heard of Madame De Stael, which honestly is a shame. Now not to play further into her narcissm (yes she's dead but ya know). She was an author, a woman who lived her life single after her husband passed, held legendary salon's and took on one of Europe's most notorious dictators. Why am I just now learning about her? I'm just saying that of course my sexist history books left out the fact that a woman was influential. The scandal, a woman? No couldn't be *rolls eyes again*

I love Saga's diverse character selection. I know nothing of the De Stael family (aside from what I learned in this novel) so I don't know if her younger son was in fact gay. However I love that both of Saga's books that I've read present LGBTQ+ characters in these historical times where it was not accepted, yet rather than keeping them from these stories, they are subtly placed in...Also Albert is one of my favorite characters. He and Albertine deserved so much better Auguste was a jerk so he can enjoy a miserable life I'm fine with that. But Albert and Albertine deserve endless happiness and a non-narcissist for a mother. 

I also really enjoyed that instead of talking up Germaine, her flaws were put out there. Yes everyone is fawning over her, yet in the writing it is obvious that she is a narcissist; and that it is (of course) negatively impacting her children. And true to narcissistic form she never realized it or was aware. It really makes me wonder what makes a person become that way, are they that way from birth, praised too much? I really, I don't understand and I want to because it bothers me. 

It is fascinating to me, not only Germaine's character but how Albertine responds to her. Albert knows her fault, resents her for it, wishes he had grown up with anyone else. Albertine is beyond devoted to her mother. She gets angry, she feels the slights but she is a true devotee. She will let no one's opinion or observation sway her. Germaine is her mother and Germaine is flawless. 

All in all this book was a really interesting read, I could not put it down at the end and yes it did make me cry. It's coming out on February 1st and I would recommend to anyone who wants to go on a multi-country adventure and follow a young girl living in her mother's shadow. 

Trigger warnings ... I feel like I should start including these in my reviews for y'all so here are what I consider the trigger warnings for this book: infidelity, narcissism (particularly in a parent), loss of a child.