First Paragraph, Tuesday Teaser -- Gastien The Cost of the Dream

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
This week I'm reading a book for FranceBookTours. It's historical fiction titled Gastien The Cost of the Dream by Caddy Rowland.
Here's the intro: from the Prologue, April, 1999:

Gastien slouched at the table by the window appearing to stare at the painting in front of him. He wasn't really seeing it. Mon Dieu, his hip hurt! Everything hurt. The muscles in his arms and legs ached something fierce, and his hands trembled. It was getting extremely difficult now to recover in the mornings after a night of hard drinking. His stomach felt like molten hell, and his head! Oh, sweet Jesus, the pounding in his head! It was almost enough to make him consider giving up his beloved absinthe, but not quite.

Also this week  is Teaser Tuesdays. Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Open to a random page of your current read  and share a teaser sentence from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your tease.
Here's a teaser from 29% on my Kindle:

"Forgive me, Father, but I don't believe in  your God," Gastien stated. "I learned years ago he did not really exist. If you are hoping for a believer, I am going to have to disappoint you."

I'll be posting a full review of the book on Jan. 15 so check back to see what I thought of the book.