A Promise on the Horizon

A Promise on the Horizon

Ann Pearson

1811: the apex of Napoleon’s empire. Two French travellers meet en route to Italy; he playing truant from his official responsibilities, she bent on escaping her empty life. Initially hostile, they discover unexpected affinities when their paths cross again. She opens his mind to the possibility of a woman as equal and friend; he urges her to defy convention and pursue her heart’s desire.

The novel explores the impact of Italy’s landscapes and culture on two very different personalities; the one torn between ambition and freedom, the other seeking a new life but still enmeshed in the past. Their inner conflicts are echoed among the Italians they encounter, some supporting others resisting Napoleon’s attempt to modernize their backward land.

Based on episodes in the youth of the French writer Stendhal, the novel uses his Italian diary as the frame, interweaving it with fictional events and characters to create a nuanced portrayal of the Napoleonic era.

Editions:

Paperback:
ISBN: 9781989467022
Price: $24.95 CDN / $22.95 USD.


Available via your local bookstore, Indigo/Chapters, or Amazon.ca

eBook:
ISBN: 9781989467039
Price: $9.99 CDN / $7.99 USD
Available on Amazon Kindle Kindle

Distribution in the UK via Gazelle Book Services

Reviews / Testimonials:

“With what precision and intimacy Ann Pearson explores her chosen era, its nuances, fevers, cherished fantasies and bitter truths! Napoleonic Europe comes alive through its most distinctive voice, that of Stendhal himself, whose perspective gives the story a vividness both fierce and touching. I so enjoyed the narrative’s resistless pace and structural originality. Refashioning the past in the form of episodes which ought to have happened, or almost did, is clearly Pearson’s special skill, one which Monsieur Beyle himself would admire.”
—Jonathan Keates
Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature,
author of Stendhal and The Siege of Venice

Media Related:

Check out Ann’s book signing dates on our events page here.
BC Booklook Who’s Who article about Ann can be accessed here.
The Ormsby Review article can be read here.

ISBN: 9781989467022
322 Pages
CDN/USD

Ann Pearson grew up in Suffolk, England, did an Honours degree in French at the University of London before moving to Vancouver where she completed a Ph. D in French literature. Subsequently, she taught French for a number of years before joining the Arts One programme at the University of British Columbia. When she is not at her desk, she is happiest in muddy jeans and wild hair tending her garden, or pursuing Stendhal and other characters down the byways of Europe in the company of her historian partner, Allan.

She is currently working on a second Napoleonic era novel, set in Cornwall this time.

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Ann Pearson grew up in Suffolk, England, did an Honours degree in French at the University of London before moving to Vancouver where she completed a Ph. D in French literature. Subsequently, she taught French for a number of years before joining the Arts One programme at the University of British Columbia. When she is not at her desk, she is happiest in muddy jeans and wild hair tending her garden, or pursuing Stendhal and other characters down the byways of Europe in the company of her historian partner, Allan.

She is currently working on a second Napoleonic era novel, set in Cornwall this time.