The Secret Life of Josephine Bonapart is an enchanting novel about one of the most seductive women in history: Josephine Bonaparte, first wife of Napoleon. Erickson calls her book "historical entertainment, not a historical fiction novel. Born on the Caribbean island of Martinique, Josephine had an exotic Creole appeal that would ultimately set her to reign over an empire as wife of the most powerful man in the world. But her life is a story of ambition and danger, of luck and a ferocious will to survive.
As a 15-year-old beauty on the Caribbean island of Martinique, she met and charmed a French military officer, Scipion du Roure, and then took the first of many lovers, the mysterious Donovan, before leaving for Paris. Josephine’s unhappy marriage to an aristocrat, her narrow escape from death by guillotine, and her involvement with Napoléon all demanded that she use her mind and body to gain advantages for herself and her children.
Her extraordinary charm, sensuality, and natural cunning helped her become mistress to some of the most powerful politicians in post-revolutionary France. Soon she had married the much younger General Bonaparte, whose armies gained France an empire that ran from Europe to Africa and the New World and who crowned himself and his wife Emperor and Empress of France. He dominated on the battlefield and she presided over the worlds of fashion and glamour. Many of the characters and incidents depicted here have roots in history."
Reviewed by a staff member, First Regional Library
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