Children of Saturn with John Neeleman

ABOUT THE EVENT

Join us for an exciting conversation with John Neeleman about his new historical novel "Children of Saturn," which follows the tumultuous events of the French Revolution and three key players whose lives get swept up in the violence.

This conversation will be in English.

EVENT FORMAT

Doors open at 6:30pm. Conversation starts at 7:00pm. Light reception to follow.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Children of Saturn is John Neeleman’s second novel. John began writing the novel planning to dramatize Thomas Paine’s quixotic involvement in the French Revolution. Paine, who could not speak French and had little understanding of French culture or history, was granted honorary French citizenship and elected to the National Convention, because of the celebrity he gained from writing Common Sense, which rallied Americans of every class to support the American Revolution. Paine’s democratic dreams collided with the harsh realities of revolutionary Paris as he narrowly escaped the guillotine during the Reign of Terror. As John researched, the historical record revealed a cast of equally compelling characters whose lives contrasted meaningfully with Paine’s and sometimes exceeded plausible fiction. John began to imagine a story from multiple points of view, of the Enlightenment and its apotheosis—the revolutions in America and Europe—and from a grittier, more universal, and more authentic perspective than most Americans learn in school. Kirkus Reviews described Children of Saturn as a “well-researched, true-life drama that makes history—and the players in it—feel utterly alive.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Neeleman's first novel, Logos, dramatized Christianity’s origin with a revisionist eye, amid a kaleidoscope of ancient cultures in first century Palestine and Europe. Logos won both the 2016 Utah Book Award for fiction (John is a Utah native) and the 2016 Independent Publisher Book Award Gold Medal for Religious Fiction. Kirkus Reviews described Logos as “a staggeringly impressive feat: a rigorously researched historical novel that carries its scholarliness lightly and grips the reader with personal drama.”

John is also a trial lawyer in Seattle, who specializes in civil litigation and also represents indigent death row inmates pro bono in Texas and Louisiana. He is a graduate of Georgetown University law school.

Host or Publisher Alliance Française de Washington, DC (AFDC)