Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #979530 in Books
• Published on: 2000-08-17
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .1 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

From Amazon.com
When she married Napoleon Bonaparte in 1796, Rose de Beauharnais was a 32-year-old widow who had narrowly escaped the French Revolution's guillotine. She was six years older than he, notorious for her lovers, and unlikely to give him children, but possessed of the social connections and skills the ambitious young general thought would help him rise in the revolutionary army. He gave "his living reverie, his dream of perfect passion" a new name, Josephine--perhaps hoping it would blot out her unsavory past. Instead, she continued to be promiscuous as well as extravagant, and the marriage soured as Napoleon ascended to first consul and then emperor of the French. Yet he divorced her only in 1810, when political events made it clear he must have an heir. This highly colored biography practically wallows in Josephine's lurid personal life, colored in by luscious descriptions of the period's clothes, food, and amusements. The author, whose many previous books mostly deal with English royalty, does not burden readers with excessive doses of French history; the focus is always on Josephine, whose psychology is discussed at length. Erickson succeeds in making her subject an attractive figure, if hardly an exemplar of moral rectitude. Her book should appeal to those who like their historical biographies titillating and not too taxing. --Wendy Smith

From Library Journal
Marie-Josephe-Rose de Tascher, better known as the Empress Josephine, first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte, has not been treated kindly by most historians. Erickson presents a balanced account of the Martinique-born girl who gained notoriety for her amorous and financial intrigues in the France of the revolutionary era prior to her marriage to the rising young Corsican general. Erickson is the author of several previous books on European history, including biographies of Catherine the Great (Great Catherine, LJ 6/1/94) and Queen Victoria (Her Little Majesty, LJ 1/97). Despite Ericksons evenhanded treatment of her subject, the Josephine who emerges here remains a vain, shallow schemer. The book is clear and easy to read but offers no new information or insight. Furthermore, Ericksons occasional errors of fact cause one to question her grounding in the material. For example, she states that 300,000 people were executed during the Reign of Terror, whereas the actual figure was somewhere closer to 25,000. Not recommended.Thomas J. Schaeper, St. Bonaventure Univ.,
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
Davina Porter narrates this story of the transformation of young Rose, daughter of an established but impoverished family in Martinique, into Josephine, the wife of Napoleon Bonaparte. Porter seems to savor the French place and people's names that are richly sprinkled throughout. She presents Josephine in sympathetic tones, first as a young innocent badly neglected and mistreated by her first husband, who has little regard for this gauche and provincial wife. Porter's presentation reflects the maturing of Rose through divorce, imprisonment during the French Revolution, and remarkable recovery to position and wealth. Porter never falters in maintaining a sense of engagement and interest in her story, particularly in her primary character. J.E.M. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine