About this item
The most beguiling and distinctive debut novel of the season: the Battle of Waterloo ... as told by a rabbit.On June 17, 1815, the Duke of Wellington amassed his troops at Hougoumont, an ancient farmstead not far from Waterloo. The next day, the French attacked -- the first shots of the Battle of Waterloo -- sparking a brutal, day-long skirmish that left six thousand men either dead or wounded.William is a white rabbit living at Hougoumont today. Under the tutelage of his mysterious and wise grandmother Old Lavender, William attunes himself to the echoes and ghosts of the battle, and through a series of adventures he comes to recognize how deeply what happened at Waterloo two hundred years before continues to reverberate. "Nature," as Old Lavender says, "never truly recovers from human cataclysms."The Sage of Waterloo is a playful retelling of a key turning point in human history, full of vivid insights about Napoleon, Wellington, and the battle itself -- and a slyly profound reflection on our place in the world.
About the Author
Author and pianist Leona Francombe has pursued music and writing all her life. Guided by these twin muses--who have more in common than one might think--she can be found most days coaxing narrative from music and melody from words.
"Waterloo Meditation", the video featured on this webpage, is a companion piece for Leona's tale, "The Sage of Waterloo". The ancient farm of Hougoumont was a pivotal site during the Battle of Waterloo and has been restored to its pre-battle condition to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the conflict. It was the haunting atmosphere of the old, crumbling farm, however, that inspired the setting for the novel. Leona performed her composition to accompany a series of photographs by digital artist Nicholas Maxson.
Leona Francombe was born in England of Czech and English parents and grew up in the United States, where she graduated magna cum laude from Bryn Mawr College and received a Master's degree from Yale School of Music. In 1987, she was invited to Belgium by the European Cultural Foundation to create and perform with an international chamber ensemble, Concorde East/West, for which she also received grants from UNESCO and the Franz Josef Foundation of Liechtenstein. She has lived in Brussels with her family ever since.
Most of Leona's essays and fiction are inspired by European themes and moods. Leona's writing has appeared in Writers' Forum, Symphony Magazine, The Bulletin, Humanities Magazine, UNESCO's Reflections, Explore Magazine and Banff Letters, among others. In 2010, Leona was asked to write and record a series of European essays for Wisconsin Public Radio for the show "Here on Earth", hosted by Jean Feraca. Her first novel, "Dancing with Swans", was published in German translation by Goldmann Verlag in 2013. Her debut in English, "The Sage of Waterloo", was published by W.W. Norton in the U.S. and U.K. in 2015.
As pianist, Leona is active as a chamber musician, composer and teacher. She has given solo recitals in the U.S., Czech Republic, Belgium, England, Germany and France, and performed in collaboration with: The Prague String Quartet, Prague Chamber Orchestra, Fine Arts Quartet, Marienbad Symphony Orchestra, Lewes Concert Orchestra, South Bohemian Chamber Philharmonic, among others. She gave her debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at the age of sixteen.
