Book of the Week #41

The Count of Concord: A Novel by Nicholas Delbanco (Champaign, IL: Dalkey Archive Press, 2008)

This novel depicts the curious tale of Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford who "was—as Nicholas Delbanco writes—'world famous in his lifetime,' yet now he has been 'almost wholly forgotten.' Like Delbanco himself, Sally Ormsby Thompson Robinson—the narrator of this novel and the Count’s fictional, last-surviving relative—is “haunted” by one of history’s most fascinating and remarkable figures. On par with Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, Count Rumford was, among many other things, a politician, a spy, a philanthropist, and above all, a scientist. Based on countless historical documents, including letters and essays by Thompson himself, The Count of Concord brings to life the remarkable career of Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford." (quoted from book jacket)