More than a year has elapsed since the ghetto gates were destroyed and Ancona's Jewish community liberated by Napoleon's troops. Yet Mirelle is ostracized--by the community, her erstwhile best friend, and even her mother--and labeled a "ruined woman." As her efforts to nurture her family's legacy are thwarted, she realizes she might have lost her last chance at love. Meanwhile, Daniel, now a lieutenant in the French army, and Christophe, the man responsible for Mirelle's disgrace, set sail to an unknown destination with General Bonaparte's forces. There, Napoleon and his men face a harsh and unforgiving landscape and new, implacable enemies, and Daniel's faith in and loyalty to the commander he once worshiped are put to the test.

Epic and rich with well-researched detail, Napoleon's Mirage is a novel of misguided ambition leading to brutal warfare, failures of cultural appropriation, and a military defeat that just may have changed the course of history.