In 1795, two young boys return home from fishing to find their parish priest has been guillotined in the town square. Seventeen years later, Jean-Luc and Adrien have faced every horror and hardship imaginable as part of the emperor’s Grande Armée, but their greatest challenge is still ahead: to find Jean-Luc’s love, Anna Lise.

"Jean-Luc & Anna Lise" is set in the turbulent years of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars and follows the lives of three childhood friends: Jean-Luc, Adrien, and Adrien’s sister, Anna Lise. Jean-Luc and Adrien join Napoleon’s army expecting grand adventure and glory. They do find courage and comradery, but they must also endure disease, intense suffering, and death. Complicating their lives is Jean-Luc’s growing love for Anna Lise, who has fled with her parents from France to Russia—the country they must now invade. Will Jean-Luc and Adrien find Anna Lise, survive the brutal Russian winter, and return home to France? Can Jean-Luc reconcile himself with the horrors he has witnessed?

Matt Jopling