Patti Flinn\, author of the new historical fiction novel\, \;THE GREATEST THING\, and Sarah-Grace Helle r\, Chair of French and Italian and Associate Professor of French at The O hio State University\, will discuss Patti's book and explore the hidden li ves of Black Europeans in the 18th century. Flinn&rsquo\;s latest novel\, the first in a trilogy\, THE GREATEST THING\, imagines the fictio nalized life of the French Black Revolutionary\, Louis-Benoit Zamor. Zamor is perhaps best-known now as the man whose testimony sent French King Lou is XV&rsquo\;s favorite mistress\, Madame Jeanne du Barry\, to the guillot ine during the French Revolution. Discover how Black people lived in Europ e during this time\, with a focus on the life of Louis-Benoit Zamor\, why their history is important to us now\, and how powerful uncovering and ret elling their stories can be.
\nAbout the Author:
\nPatti Flinn \;is the author of four novels\, fo
ur novellas\, and one picture book. Patti won the Romance Writers Ink Awar
d for Romantic Comedy and her work has been nominated for numerous awards\
, including the Phillis Wheatley Award for Fiction. Her latest series\,
Patti lives in Central Ohio and loves listening to smooth jazz\, reading\, and collecting and trying recipes from unique and antique cookbooks in her spare time. Flinn created the &ldquo\;Exploring My Happy &rdquo\; blog to encourage women Gen X and older to keep pursuing their dr eams\, no matter their age.
\nAbout the Moderator:< /p>\n
Sarah-Grace Heller is Chair of French and Italian and Associate Professor of French\, specializing in medieval French and O ccitan literature\, language\, and material culture. Her publications incl ude Fashion in Medieval France (Boydell\, 2007)\, A Cultural History of Fa shion in a Medieval Age (Berg\, 2016)\, and articles related to sumptuary law\, crusade literature\, the Roman de la Rose\, and the semiotics of cul ture. Her current project is titled Fashion&rsquo\;s Roots across the Roma nce Routes of the Mediterranean\, 400-1300. She is president of the Soci&e acute\;té\; Guilhem IX which promotes Occitan scholarship\, and serv es on the editorial board of the journal Medieval Clothing and Textiles. S he has served as director and associate director of OSU's Center for Medie val and Renaissance Studies.
\nAbout the Book:
\ nTHE GREATEST THING \;- Inspired by the l ife of Louis-Benoit Zamor\, whose testimony sent Jeanne du Barry to the gu illotine. \;His mother told him he was God&rsquo\;s greatest thing. Th en he was stolen\, sold\, shipped to France\, and re-named Louis-Benoit Za mor. Stripped of his esteem as efficiently as a fox&rsquo\;s coat in a roy al hunt\, Zamor is reared by the king&rsquo\;s mistress\, Jeanne Du Barry& mdash\;with a love as false as her smile. First\, Louis-Benoit must surviv e childhood. Then\, if the world thinks the debauched\, degenerate king is its greatest thing\, the answer is simple: Zamor will have to change the world. The Greatest Thing is the first installment of The Last Favorit e&rsquo\;s Page Trilogy.
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