A New Year A New Novel by Jennifer Laam
Welcome to 2018 on Writer’s Corner! Today Jennifer Laam is stopping by to share
her new novel The Lost Season of Love and Snow. I have an excerpt from this novel below
provided by St. Martin’s Press. Jennifer
is a popular author in historical fiction, and writes about Russian history.
Excerpt:
A man says he will die for you. A woman is taught to
lower her gaze and blush before hiding once more behind a silken fan. Men are
given to self-aggrandizement, while women flatter egos and keep men tied to
this earth. Such is the way of the world, or so I was taught in the days before
I gained a reputation as the villain of St. Petersburg.
I know better now.
When a man declares he will die for you, sometimes a
woman must take him at his word. For to allow one’s husband to perish on the
field of honor is a shameful affair, worse even, than murdering him by your own
hand.
The solemn men who gather at our flat fall silent as
my husband draws his final breath. A prickly chill, like the first wave of a
fever, washes over me as I realize my husband is gone. The sorrow tightens my
chest and clamps down, squeezing until I think my body will snap in two. I sway
on my feet and believe I will faint. Only the invisible force of my will keeps
me upright. Dark blood still seeps from his abdomen and a sharp metallic scent
clings to the air.
For two days my husband had been one of the waking
dead, suffering a cruel and lingering death. Though I was not present at the
duel where he fought to defend my honor, the image of Alexander collapsing, his
blood staining the snow crimson, haunts my every thought. I have slid into
despair, veering between hysteria and hopelessness, while Alexander’s wound
festered and his once vibrant face distorted with agony.
His friends stand in a semicircle around his body,
backs erect, mouths set in stern lines, and expressions stoic even as their
eyes dampen with tears.
“What a waste,” I hear one of them mutter. “A genius
lost over a woman.”
The words echo in my head. I was the wife of a
distinguished man of letters, the greatest in our land, and I let his life slip
through my fingers. These men suppose I care only for material comforts and
romantic diversions and don’t believe I possess the wits about me to appreciate
my husband’s talent. Rumormongers have convinced them I love the empty-headed
Georges d’Anthès or have fallen prey to the advances of our iron-jawed tsar.
They consider my behavior traitorous, as terrible in its own way as if I had
joined the ranks of the Napoleonic soldiers who once threatened our very
heartland.
I will confess to basking too long in the attention
of Georges and even the tsar himself, yet I am no Jezebel, merely human, as
vulnerable to flattery as any other creature. Much as I may wish to do so, I
cannot change the past. The damage is done. A fresh wave of tears threatens and
subsides, as though nothing remains inside me to expel. I wonder how long I
will live with the torment of my guilt and the censure of those who claim to
love my husband.
I will confess to basking too long in the attention
of Georges and even the tsar himself, yet I am no Jezebel, merely human, as
vulnerable to flattery as any other creature. Much as I may wish to do so, I
cannot change the past. The damage is done. A fresh wave of tears threatens and
subsides, as though nothing remains inside me to expel. I wonder how long I
will live with the torment of my guilt and the censure of those who claim to
love my husband.
About The Author:
 |
| Precious Depictions Photography |
JENNIFER LAAM is the author of The Secret Daughter
of the Tsar and The Tsarina’s Legacy. She earned her master’s degree in History
from Oakland University in Michigan and her bachelor’s degree from the
University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA. She has lived in Los Angeles and the
suburbs of Detroit, traveled in Russia and Europe, and worked in education and
non-profit development. She currently resides in Northern California.
Jennifer is
available on these platforms:
To purchase a copy of The Lost Season of Love and Snow you can visit these retailers:
Comments
Post a Comment