The Last Campaign of Marianne Tambour by David Ebsworth

The battles that both women must survive, however, at Ligny and Quatre Bras, create their own problems. So when Hawk-face Dumont accidentally provides an opening for Marianne to rid herself of a dangerous rival and also extends the possibility of fortunes to be made, it looks like an opportunity too good to be refused. And creating a new life, breaking with the army, needs money. Her position as canteen mistress has not been easily won and she has made enemies in the process. Yet, for now, Liberté Dumont is the least of Marianne’s worries. And Marianne wonders what she really wants, this hawk-faced trooper with her visions, dreams and fancies. But she has not reckoned on the complications that will arise from a chance encounter with another of the army’s women, Liberté Dumont – Dragoon trooper and sometimes spy for the Machiavellian French Minister of Police, Fouché.

Marianne is determined that, after this one last campaign, she will make a new life for herself and her young daughter, since neither of them has ever known anything but the rigours of warfare. Just one of the many cantinières who provide the lads with their brandy and home comforts, both in camp and also in the thick of the fight. Within his ranks is Marianne Tambour, a battle-weary canteen mistress for a battalion of the Imperial Guard’s Foot Grenadiers. Bonaparte has returned from Elba and marches with his army to defeat the Prussian and English enemies of France. On this occasion, I owe a huge debt of thanks to all those who supported the crowd-funding project that helped bring the book to publication – all those who signed up for the rewards, or to pre-order a copy, or to help “spread the word”. Like all the previous books, this one is full of action and intrigue set against a carefully-researched historical background. It tells the story of the Waterloo Campaign from the perspective of two French women who fought on the battlefields of Gilly, Ligny, Quatre Bras, Genappe and, of course, Waterloo itself. My fourth novel is set during the final days of the Napoleonic Wars.

The Last Campaign of Marianne Tambour by David Ebsworth