About the Book
Imagine inheriting tender letters from a renowned historical figure addressed to one of your ancestors. Making sense of such a gift ignited the genealogical investigation that DanielFallon records in this book. Loves Legacy chronicles Fallons search for hidden meaning in two notes sent to his great-great-grandfather in 1817 by famous French writer François-René deChateaubriand. Woven into the rich fabric of this work are elements making it much more than a suspenseful detective story. It is an intimate biography of Chateaubriand, a story of forbidden love, fraught with passion and tragedy, and a memoir, recounting Fallons discoveries as he pieces together his ancestry, governed by a legacy rooted in a star-crossed encounter of long ago. Captivating and deeply humane, Loves Legacy portrays the surprising impact peoples lives can have on those born centuries later. As clever as it is wise, this book reveals how the recovery of the past awakens an awareness of inherited gifts that transcend genealogy.
About the Author :
Daniel Fallon is professor emeritus of psychology and public policy at the University of Maryland at College Park, where he also served as academic vice president and provost. He concluded his professional career directing grantmaking in education as chair of the Education Division at Carnegie Corporation of New York. Fallon has published widely on psychology, educational reform, and contemporary cultural issues. He is the author of The German University: A Heroic Ideal in Conflict with the Modern World, which was awarded the Eugene M. Kayden prize for excellence in humanities. Loves Legacy: Viscount Chateaubriand and the Irish Girl, his latest book, includes an intimate biography of Chateaubriand, as well as a story of forbidden love, fraught with passion and tragedy. It is also a memoir, a detective story, a genealogical study, and a reflective meditation on the meaning of inheritance.
Review :
"Historic nonfiction with a romantic twista bewitching journey of love, pain, and discoveryunfailingly clear and engagingpresented with academic rigor and a storytellers élana lively dive into French history, family legend, and storied lover and writer." - Booklife Review, Publishers Weekly
"a true-life mystery tourincredibly readable and excitingan air of discovery and excitement in every pagekept me totally enthralledI can highly recommend this read." -Grant Leishman, Readers' Favorite Review
"drew me in from the first pageengagingI recommend Love's Legacy also for the sheer pleasure of its delicious wordsmithingthis story of five generations is a feat in itself." -Irene Valentine, Readers' Favorite Review
"What a delightful, informative, and moving read this is! Part biography, part literary history, part family chronicle, and part journey of discovery and self-discovery, Love's Legacy tells the story of the great French romantic writer François-René de Chateaubriand, the extraordinary origins and history of the cosmopolitan and peripatetic Fallon family, the author's love for his father, and, ultimately, the mystery at the heart of a family's past-all recounted in a crisp,lively, and elegant prose. Most highly recommended." -Richard J. Golsan, University Distinguished Professor and Distinguished Professor of French, Texas A&M University
"In this delightful genre-bender of a memoir, a distinguished scholar sets out to verify or disprove a family legend that links him-perhaps through a suppressed scandal-to the great French writer Chateaubriand. Daniel Fallon's enthralling true story of his quest and its outcome is at once a literary-historical romp, a suspense tale with a twist ending, a love letter to his colorful forebears, and a resonant meditation on the meaning of legacy and inheritance." -Amy E. Schwartz, Opinion and book editor, Moment Magazine, and award-winning former editorial writer and op-ed columnist, The Washington Post
"Daniel Fallon's extraordinary tale of Chateaubriand's early life in exile in England during the French Revolution captures the ambivalent feelings of a young French aristocrat in love but also draws on the author's personal fascination with Chateaubriand.This work of literature is both biography based on rigorous scholarship and a fanciful exploration of the 'what ifs' of life. Love's Legacy has all the ingredients of a good read: charm and wit in equal measure, intrigue, and even suspense. It will astound and thrill anyone, surely inspiring some to read or reread well-known works by the great French romantic writer." -Tom Conner, Professor of Modern Languages and Literatures, St. Norbert College, and author of Chateaubriand's Mémoires d'outre-tombe: Portrait of an Artist in Exile
"By presenting an absorbing arc of ancestry, Daniel Fallon reveals a side of Chateaubriand too little recognized, yet as instructive to students of the influential French romantic writer, politician, and diplomat as it is compelling to today's reader of biography." -Steven Mansbach, Distinguished University Professor and Professor of Art History and Archaeology, University of Maryland at College Park
