Creole Son: A Novel of Degas in New Orleans
In 1872, French painter Edgar Degas is disillusioned by a lackluster career and haunted by the Prussian siege of Paris and the bloodbath of the Commune. Seeking personal and professional rebirth, he journeys to New Orleans, birthplace of his Creole mother. He is horrified to learn he has exchanged one city in crisis for another—post-Civil War New Orleans is a corrupt town occupied by hostile Union troops and suffering under the heavy hand of Reconstruction. He is further shocked to find his family deeply involved in the violent struggle to reclaim political power at terrible costs. Despite the chaos swirling around him, Degas sketches and paints with fervor and manages to reinvent himself and transition his style from neoclassical into the emerging world of Impressionism. He ultimately became one of the masters of the new movement, but how did New Orleans empower Degas to fulfill this destiny? The answer may be found in the impeccably researched, richly imagined historical novel, Creole Son.
(103,000 words; available as ebook and print)
“Llewellyn has clearly done his research and has a gift for dialogue. His deft handling of historical detail entwined with an engrossing fictional narrative will appeal to lovers of history, lovers of art, and lovers of a good read. Creole Son succeeds in delivering what historical fiction should deliver. It engages, it educates, and above all, it entertains.” –The Louisiana Advocate
The challenge of writing historical fiction is finding the balance between factual events and the fictional story the author tries to weave into that reality. In his work Creole Son: A Novel of Degas in New Orleans, Michael Llewellyn finds that balance by crafting a tale that is rich in both history and imagination. – Mollie Waters, Southern Literary Review
“In Creole Son, Llewellyn writes convincingly of a chaotic, sensual, dangerous and exotic city seething with racial tension, criminal politics, sexual license and moral ambiguity. The descriptions of how Degas thought, observed and painted his subjects are finely wrought and very well written, showing detailed knowledge of the artist’s style and methods. A book to be savored.”— Literary Grace Notes
“I learned a great deal about 19th century New Orleans from the impressive research, and admired the way Llewellyn met the challenge of writing a convincing novel set in the Francophone 19th century. It’s difficult, I’ve found, to write in one language while reminding readers that the characters are speaking in another. I was not surprised to learn Llewellyn had been a painter. The frenzy of the inspired eye and hand coordination rang so true that it couldn’t be invented.” –James Nolan, author of Higher Ground
“With skill and sensitivity, Llewellyn captures the interaction of art and violence, ugliness and beauty, the transition of an artist, a man and a world.” —Barbara Hambly, author of A Free Man of Color
