1--What is the title of your latest release?
NAPOLEON’S MIRAGE
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Epic and rich with well-researched detail, NAPOLEON’S MIRAGE is a novel of misguided ambition leading to brutal warfare, failures of cultural appropriation, and a military defeat that just may have changed the course of history.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
Because I write historical fiction, my locations are largely determined by actual events and settings. As this is a sequel to BEYOND THE GHETTO GATES, part of the novel takes place in Ancona, Italy, so that the reader learns just how much Mirelle is in trouble with her Jewish community because of actions taken in the previous book. But most of it follows Napoleon’s military expedition, starting from Toulon where his massive fleet embarks, to Malta, Egypt, and then to Isarel.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
While I have four main characters, the bulk of the narrative is given over to Daniel, a young officer in Napoleon’s artillery. He is undergoing significant changes in his attitude toward war and to Napoleon in particular, moving from hero-worshipping the young general to recognizing the evil and pain warfare creates. This would make him an interesting – if sometimes idealistically frustrating – person to hang out with.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Again, I have four main characters, so I will give three words that describe them all:
- Daniel – moral, dutiful, insecure (about his ability to command)
- Christophe – heroic, swaggering, romantic
- Mirelle – loving, troubled, courageous
- al-Jabarti – curious, loyal, faithful (to his Muslim faith)
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
Every one of the novels I’ve written contain some violence. This novel in particular describes some highly charged and brutal scenes of warfare. As a pacifist myself, these scenes were difficult to write. Readers, please don’t be scared off by this! It certainly doesn’t constitute the entirety of the novel. But I am looking forward to my next project, which contains no warfare whatsoever.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
My process is to read over and lightly edit the writing I did the night before, which propels me forward to the next part of the novel. But major revision waits until I’ve completely finished the first draft, at which point I know my story and can better sculpt and refine it.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Such a dangerous question! Unfortunately, it’s been one of the sorrows of my life that while I like almost all types of food, food doesn’t like me in return nor serve my body well. It’s easier to list the foods I don’t enjoy, which include liver, pickles, and all melons except for watermelon.
9--Describe your writing space/office!
I’m fortunate to be able to claim “a room of my own,” in our family’s library. It’s a space filled with wall-to-ceiling books, with my research books always located right behind me. I look out over our suburban street, which is generally quiet except when the high schoolers use it to cut through at the beginning or end of the day, or when the gardeners come out on Thursdays to wield their noisy machinery. I have two screens, one large and one small, which I can switch between and find immensely useful. And I keep the room quiet, as I write best in absolute silence, letting all the noise be inside my head as my characters talk to me.
10--Who is an author you admire?
Oh, so many and from so many periods of writing! As a huge fan of Victorian literature, I admire George Eliot’s immense capability of painting such diverse communities, rich and poor alike – and her own courageous life where she refused to bow down to social convention. In terms of contemporary authors, I’ve always been an Anne Tyler fan for her wacky characters and quiet, yet vibrant writing.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
Désirée, by Annemarie Selinko. Not only was I enraptured by the novel in my early teens, re-reading it through the years and always finding something new, but it was probably the book that convinced me that I wanted to write historical fiction. And, as a bonus, I learned a great deal about Napoleon’s character from it.
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
For NAPOLEON’S MIRAGE, this came as an email from my publisher who had already published Beyond the Ghetto Gates. While it was a lovely email, it wasn’t a surprise. However, a better story was the “call” I received for Babylon: A Novel of Jewish Captivity. That manuscript had lain dormant for more than a decade and I sent it off to a new imprint on a whim. The publisher/editor wrote me one morning to say that he’d read the first part and was “fairly confident that I will want to publish it.” I then had to wait more than a month for him to finish, at which point he emailed asking for a convenient time to speak on the phone. I’d always been convinced the book would finally find a home, but I have to admit that I wept when it did.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
I’m an eclectic reader, who will read almost anything (well, mysteries and horror excluded). Of course I read widely in my own genre of historical fiction.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
This is one question I actually can answer simply and directly: always and forever Casablanca. I believe it’s the perfect movie.
15--What is your favorite season?
Definitely the spring. It’s the season my sons were born, the season when light returns after the darkness of winter, and when everything blossoms.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
With my family, with a festive meal either at home or out at a restaurant. And there must be cake!
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
My husband and I often despair of finding something worthwhile to watch. The most recent tv series that surprised us was The Night Agent. I’m not a huge thriller fan, but this one held my attention from start to finish. I’m also excited about the return of season 2 of The Diplomat and hope it lives up to season 1. (Maybe I am a thriller fan after all.)
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Again, an unanswerable question! I love everything from Asian to Italian to French to Mexican to…
19--What do you do when you have free time?
Free time is tough to come by, since in addition to novel writing, I’m a director of The Writers Circle, a NJ-based creative writing program for third graders on up through adults, and teach five classes a week. My family are big theatre fans and we go whenever we can coordinate schedules. And, of course, I read copiously.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
I’m in the middle of writing a new novel set in Elizabethan London. Of course, William Shakespeare is a major character!
A Novel
Readers of Stephanie Drey and Allison Pataki will enjoy this highly anticipated sequel, an epic saga of love set during the Napoleonic invasion of Egypt that explores loyalty, cultural failures, and a potentially history-altering military defeat.
More than a year has elapsed since the ghetto gates were destroyed and Ancona’s Jewish community liberated by Napoleon’s troops. Yet Mirelle is ostracized—by the community, her erstwhile best friend, and even her mother—and labeled a “ruined woman.” As her efforts to nurture her family’s legacy are thwarted, she realizes she might have lost her last chance at love. Meanwhile, Daniel, now a lieutenant in the French army, and Christophe, the man responsible for Mirelle’s disgrace, set sail to an unknown destination with General Bonaparte’s forces. There, Napoleon and his men face a harsh and unforgiving landscape and new, implacable enemies, and Daniel’s faith in and loyalty to the commander he once worshiped are put to the test.
Epic and rich with well-researched detail, Napoleon’s Mirage is a novel of misguided ambition leading to brutal warfare, failures of cultural appropriation, and a military defeat that just may have changed the course of history.
Historical [She Writes Press, On Sale: November 12, 2024, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781647426200 / eISBN: 9781647426217]
Michelle Cameron is the author of Jewish historical fiction, with her most recent being Napoleon’s Mirage, the sequel to Beyond the Ghetto Gates. Previous work includes Babylon: A Novel of Jewish Captivity, a finalist in religious fiction in the 2024 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, the award-winning Beyond the Ghetto Gates and The Fruit of Her Hands: the story of Shira of Ashkenaz. Michelle is a director of The Writers Circle, a NJ-based creative writing program serving children, teens, and adults. She lives in Chatham, NJ, with her husband and has two grown sons of whom she is inordinately proud.
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