I have just been asked by my publisher to collaborate in the drafting of my biographical details and what will appear on the back of my book, Needing Napoleon.
If you have always assumed the complimentary descriptions are generated by impartial critics, then think again! Obviously, quotes from critics are genuine. However, anything else is all part of the work of imagination that is a novel.
If you don't believe me, then see below for my first attempt! My instructions were as follows. A first, short paragraph (around 25 words) should say what the reading experience will be like. The second paragraph (around 80 words) should give more information about the story and expand on the reading experience. The third paragraph (about 70 words and written in the third person) should be autobiographical.
Needing Napoleon is a stunningly original feat of imagination; an irresistible adventure that spirits the reader from present day Paris to the battle of Waterloo and beyond.
Can you change what has already happened? As a history teacher, Richard knows the answer. At least, he thinks he does. On holiday in Paris, he stumbles across a curious antiques shop. The eccentric owner reveals a secret Richard dares not believe. His conviction that Bonaparte should have won the battle of Waterloo could be put to the test. Accurate historical detail collides with the paradox of time travel as an ordinary twenty-first century man is plunged into the death throes of the French empire.
This is Gareth Williams’ first novel. He studied history at Cambridge which led to a career as a history teacher. Now retired, he lives on the magical Isle of Skye with his wife, Helen, and their Pyrenean Mountain dog. He played rugby until he was forty-eight, only giving it up after breaking his back in a 400-foot fall down a mountain. When he is not writing, Gareth is climbing all 282 Scottish mountains over 3000 feet. When there is snow, he skis. He is currently working on a sequel to Needing Napoleon.
