Any high-level categorization of a book inevitably fails to fully capture the complete essence of a story. And then there are books like
The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley, where even assigning several labels to the tale still doesn’t do the story justice.
The Kingdoms contains multitudes: it is a love story, a seafaring war novel, a time-travel mystery, an alternative history tale, and more. And while each description in the previous sentence is accurate, each description fails to capture all that the book encompasses.
The plot, however, is straightforward enough (by time-travel standards, at least). We start the book following the journey of Joe Tournier, a 43-year-old man who has lost his memory and lives in an alternative version of 1898 England where France won the Napoleonic War.
Icebound in the Arctic - read an exclusive extract
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Sklaventreiber Napoleon: Warum Cowboys nicht Französisch sprechen
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Debut novelist J. H. Gelernter’s “Hold Fast” (out May 4) is a ripping Napoleonic War adventure that leans heavily on its influences but nevertheless manages to chart its own course to a satisfying conclusion.
The year is 1803; Boston-born Englishman Thomas Grey is in mourning for his wife, Paulette, who was killed after the ship on which they were traveling is attacked by a French frigate, the Fidele. Heartbroken, Grey resigns from the British secret service, intending to retire to a quiet life as a lumber merchant in his hometown. But before he can reach his new life in the New World, he’s approached by an Irish republican who attempts to recruit him into a French intelligence network.