This was an excellent book. So often historical biographies center on either extremely well known figures (Napoleon or French or Austrian monarchs in the time frame of this book) or snapshots of lives of the poor in European history (as much as can be known about them from the historical material, that is). Here is an example of a life just under our usual radar, and yet, the life of a woman who shared company with emperors and empresses and whose family greatly affected the lives of those in their immediate area. Di Robilant does a great job of carrying the reader through the life of his 4th great-grandmother without treating her as anything more than the human she was. For those who love historical portraits created out of personal diaries and letters along with macro-history of the time period, this is a great book.