About the Author

Michelle de Kretser was born in Sri Lanka and migrated to Australia with her family in 1972. She has taught English at the University of Melbourne, as well as working as an editor and book reviewer. Her novels have been published across the world and translated into several languages. The Hamilton Case won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for South-East Asia and the Pacific, the Encore Award and the Tasmania Pacific Prize for Australian and New Zealand fiction. She lives in Melbourne.

Reviews

"If Jane Austen had been French, she might well have invented the family Saint-Pierre.... Stylish and uniquely crafted."
-- The Orlando Sentinel

"Powerful ... lovely, meticulously researched ... evokes the beginnings of the Terror in crisp, elegant, compassionate prose."
-- The New York Times Book Review

"Fascinating ... Sophie's calmness and kindness, her passion for roses, her botanical studies and attempts to create a crimson flower ... are the soul and spine of the book.... De Kretser has exhaustively researched the life of the period, but she wears her knowledge lightly."
-- The Washington Post Book World

On July 14, 1789, American artist Stephen Fletcher literally falls from the sky into the lives of the Saint-Pierre family in Gascony when his hot-air balloon crashes. He also falls in love with the ethereal Claire, eldest of three sisters, despite her marriage to an aristocrat. Meanwhile, Sophie falls in love with him but tries not to let him know, and schoolgirl Mathilde delights him with her forthright humor. First novelist de Kretser explores the connections among the sisters, the artist, and area residents, using as backdrop the French Revolution and the growing unease it creates. Pages of descriptions of dress, food, landscapes, and Sophie's hobby of rose growing, delightful as they may be, slow the action to the speed of a pastoral summer afternoon. Only when the Reign of Terror takes hold does the tempo quicken. Recommended for readers who prefer fiction with a leisurely pace.--Andrea Lee Shuey, Shuey Consulting, Dallas Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

"If Jane Austen had been French, she might well have invented the family Saint-Pierre.... Stylish and uniquely crafted."
-- The Orlando Sentinel

"Powerful ... lovely, meticulously researched ... evokes the beginnings of the Terror in crisp, elegant, compassionate prose."
-- The New York Times Book Review

"Fascinating ... Sophie's calmness and kindness, her passion for roses, her botanical studies and attempts to create a crimson flower ... are the soul and spine of the book.... De Kretser has exhaustively researched the life of the period, but she wears her knowledge lightly."
-- The Washington Post Book World