Napoleon’s Double (novel)

 
Seven conscripts from a village near Dijon set out to follow Napoleon on his campaign to conquer Egypt. Children of the Enlightenment, they are filled with wonder by all they see, and by the Great Man who is their leader. Their lives are fraught with danger, and three die. One of the band, who looks like Napoleon, acts as his double, a decoy for assassins. Yet the conscripts like nothing better than to talk, to think, to dream – their true vocation is to live in their imaginations. The Sphinx and the desert sands, the seraglios of Cairo and the waters of the Nile hold them in thrall. Later, the survivors sail with Nicholas Baudin on his expedition to New Holland. Again they are threatened, by disease and starvation, and again their sense of wonder allows them to transcend misfortune. But only one of the dreamers will survive, to tell the story of the seven from a slab hut in Rose-Hill, a short distance from the fledgling settlement of Sydney-Town.
 
About the author:
Antoni Jach is the author of An Erratic History, a history of Australia in poetry, and two previous novels, The Weekly Card Game and The Layers of the City, which was shortlisted for the Age Book of the Year Award and translated into Turkish. He is an editor, publisher and lecturer in creative writing at RMIT University.