The Emperor's Lady

by F.W. Kenyon

A novel based on the life of the Empress Josephine, wife of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical

501 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

Frank Wilson Kenyon (July 6, 1912-February 6, 1989) was a New Zealand novelist.
Frank Wilson Kenyon spent his childhood in Lancashire, England, until his family emigrated to New Zealand when he was twelve years old. There, his father ran a grocery shop and Kenyon started to discover some of the writers who would later influence his own work, including Dickens, Maupassant, Somerset Maugham and H.G. Wells. After leaving school, he worked in a department store before moving to London for two years in his early twenties to develop a writing career. He wrote many historical novels, particularly about famous women in history.

Reviews

[Irem Ercan · Rating 3 out of 5]

çerez gibi okunuyor, tarihi kurgu sevenler okuyabilir ama nasıl derler, ERKEK ELİ değdiği çok belli.

[carinne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a love hate relationship with this book. The first half of the book I enjoyed greatly. I was excited to learn about the life of Empress Josephine, who was married to Napoleon Bonaparte. I didn't know much of the history of her and so jumped into the story completely blind. The story began with her marriage to Alexandre Beahernais who is cruel to her from the beginning. It chronicles her life from the age of 16 until her death in her late 40's. Along the way we get to meet a lot of interesting characters, mostly men, who Josephine uses to her advantage. I could tolerate this for only a while. ( So begins my problem with this book) You see, I assumed as Josephine got older that she would mature. She never did. In fact, the older she became the less She seemed to care about anyone else but herself. This annoyed the crap out of me, even when she married Bonaparte, I assumed she would realize he cared about her and grow to love him. Instead she became more annoying, and treated him like crap. I couldn't understand how someone who'd been treated harshly by her previous husband could treat a man that loved her the same way she'd been treated. I put this book down for a month. ( Maybe that was the problem ) When It came time to finish reading this book,I realized it was becoming a task and I hated Josephine's character. It was like planning to visit someone who you really don't like and having to spend a full day with them. So, Instead of torturing myself I skipped to the end to see if she would redeem herself. She didn't. Still I give this book three stars because even though I somewhat hate it, I enjoyed the first half of the book enough. I wouldn't recommend it to freinds as there are a lot of books you could be reading, and this one is somewhere around five hundred pages in fine print.

[Lynette Lark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great read! Written in 1952, the story is about the life and times of Josephine and Napoleon Bonaparte. The book takes us through Josephine's life on Martinique, her terrible first marriage at 16, the birth of two children, and the Reign of Terror. Living in Paris, she is introduced to Bonaparte and he is instantly attracted to her (Bonaparte has been described as having an animal magnetism--a certain charisma that keeps his troops devoted to him, and it seems to entrance women as well, but not Josephine). He is absolutely relentless in his pursuit of her, but she is not interested in him at all. He's young, unkempt, crude, and he's a mere soldier (no money), and that's what Josephine desperately needs at the moment (she is consistently over-drawn). Josephine is not a true beauty (her teeth are rotting in the front), but she has an incredible wit and is enchantingly elegant, and that is what Bonaparte desires--an aristocratic, elegant woman by his side because that is the one thing he lacks--aristocratic breeding. Bonaparte is 26 when he marries Josephine, who is 32. She loathes him, but he is so smitten that he doesn't notice right away. She begins a series of affairs while he's out conquering the world (his goal). She doesn't go on campaigns with him, she doesn't respond to his letters, she treats him like the "Corsican pig" she believes he is, and she completely despises his mother, brothers, and sisters who all show up when Bonaparte hits the big time.

In the book, Josephine is described as "wanton, thoughtless, and careless of his love; she had taken all and given little." But, of course, to her eternal regret, she realized this way too late. Bonaparte began having affairs while on campaign, he fathered two illegitimate sons (Josephine was unable to give Bonaparte any children), and he began to consider divorcing her because he needed a legitimate heir. He eventually banishes Josephine to a country estate, he remarries an Austrian princess and she gives him a son. Josephine warned him before the divorce that he wouldn't have the luck he'd had with her, and, of course, her prophetic words came to pass in the Battle of Waterloo. Incidentally, Bonaparte's only heir died at the age of 21.

Some quotes from the book that I thought resonate with today's political issues: "The Republic of France . . . is in grave danger and I intend to save it. Indeed, I am the only man who can save it." "I want to and shall make myself a sort of absolute dictator . . . but the word 'dictator' shall not be used. It would frighten many of my more timid supporters." [p 273] "Oh, yes, I shall have all the military support I need!" "Even this speech brought no open move against him . . . ." [p 274]

Ironically, I loved Bonaparte and hated Josephine. Bonaparte was cunning, determined, clairvoyant, funny, spontaneous, ambitious, and so much more. While Josephine was petty, spoiled, conniving, mean-spirited, spiteful, and careless with her children, especially her daughter.

But the book is a delight and hard to put down.

[Eren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kalın kitaplar beni her zaman korkutmuştur. Özellikle bunlar klasiklerdense veya klasiklerin dönemlerinde geçen kitaplardansa beni bir tık daha fazla korkutur. Josephine, kitaplığımda bu tarzda bulunan kalın bir kitaptı fakat bu yayınevinden çıkan ve elimde bulunan kitaplardan her ay bir kitap tüketme kararı verdiğim için sıra bu kitaba geldi ve okumaya başladım.
Kitap tarihi bir kurgu aslında. Fransanın imparatoru Napoleon Bonaparte'nin eşi Josephine'in hayatını anlatıyor kitap. Josephine'in Josephine olmadan önceki hayatını, aşklarını, sevgililerini, arkadaşlarını, paraya olan hırsını büyük bir zevkle okuyoruz bu kitapta. Josephine, zaten bu özellikleriyle tarihe adını yazdırmış bir kişilik, bu kitapla da her ne kadar kurgulanmış şeyler olsa da onun hayatından birtakım izler de taşıyor.
Josephine karakterini çok iyi kurgulamış gerçekten yazar. Yani gerçekte de bu kadın böyle biri evet ama tarihi kurgu olduğu için kitapta olmayan şeyleri de görebiliyoruz doğal olarak. Yazar bunu kurgulamakta ve anlatmakta oldukça başarılıydı. Diyalogları ve romanın akışını çok başarılı buldum ayrıca. Genelde bu tarz kitaplar biraz ağır dolayısıyla da sıkıcı olur fakat ben hiç sıkılmadım kitabı okurken. Yazarın dili de çok akıcı ve merak uyandırıcıydı.
Kitabı gerçekten çok sevdim ve Josephine karakterini daha da çok sevdim. Kitabın uzunluğunu görünce başta gözüm korktu ama gerçekten son derece akıcı ve hakkını veren bir kitaptı.

[Doodles McC · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a teenager I loved this recounting of the life of Empress Josephine, wife of Napoleon. Frank Wilson Kenyon wrote very well, enjoyable by all ages.