Fortune

Australian writer Bartulin channels Henry Fielding in this spirited account of a handful of strangers who cross paths across decades and the planet. During Napoleon’s triumphant Oct. 27, 1806, appearance in Berlin, the reader meets Johannes Meyer, an 18-year-old dreamer who cares little for his future; Elisabeth von Hoffman, 17, whose wanderlust is quashed by her guardian aunt; Claus von Rolt, a Prussian obsessed with collecting exotic beetles and other objects; American entrepreneur Wesley Lewis Jr.; and enslaved Surinamese man Mr. Hendrick, who is forced to accompany Lewis on a mission to deliver a barrel of electric eels to von Rolt. Johannes and Elisabeth, who glimpse each other for a moment in a crowd, are at the center of the narrative, set primarily against Napoleon’s military campaigns. With consummate skill, Bartulin weaves the trajectory of Johannes’s conscriptions in the French and British military (and subsequent imprisonments and escapes) with Elisabeth’s parallel courtships by multiple suitors, leading toward a second run-in between the two in 1834 Chile, as Lewis and Hendrick head back to Suriname for more adventures. While the ending is a bit underwhelming, more satisfying is what lies in store for some of the other characters, such as the ironic outcome of Claus’s preoccupation with shrunken heads. Bartulin’s intricate canvas handily captures the vagaries of human life. (Feb.)