Josephine A Life of the Empress

by Erickson, Carolly

• ISBN13: 9780312263461
• ISBN10: 0312263465
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-08-17
• Publisher: Griffin

Summary

In 1804, when Josephine Bonaparte knelt before her husband, Napoleon, to receive the imperial diadem, few in the vast crowd of onlookers were aware of the dark secrets hidden behind the imperial faccedil;ade. To her subjects, she appeared to vet hew most favored woman in France: alluring, wealthy, and with the devoted love of a remarkable husband who was the conqueror of Europe. In actuality, Josephine's life was far darker, for her celebrated allure was fading, her wealth was compromised by massive debt, and her marriage was corroded by infidelity and abuse. Josephine's life story was as turbulent as the age-an era of revolution and social upheaval, of the guillotine, and of frenzied hedonism. With telling psychological depth and compelling literary grace, Carolly Erickson brings the complex, charming, ever-resilient Josephine to life in this memorable portrait, one that carries the reader along every twist and turn of the empress's often thorny path, from the sensual richness of her childhood in the tropics to her final lonely days at Malmaison.

Author Biography

Carolly Erickson received her Ph.D. in medieval history from Columbia University. She is the author of Great Harry, Alexandra, and Bloody Mary, among others. She lives in Hawaii.

Table of Contents

Into the Wind-House	1	(8)
The Scent of Sugar	8	(11)
A Troubled Passage	19	(11)
A Cankered Bond	30	(11)
``The Vilest of Creatures''	41	(11)
``The Little American''	52	(10)
Liberation	62	(10)
Transformation	72	(12)
A Turn into Madness	84	(9)
Citizeness Beaubarnais	93	(9)
The Days of the Red Mass	102	(10)
A New Life	112	(10)
``She Offered Her Entire Soul in Her Eyes''	122	(11)
``The Lubricious Creole''	133	(10)
Italian Sojourn	143	(10)
``I Don't Like the Honors of This Country, and I Am Often Bored''	153	(9)
``Our Family Shall Want for Nothing''	162	(10)
``The Most Unfortunate of Women''	172	(11)
``All I Do Is Cry''	183	(11)
A Fissured Marriage	194	(10)
A Ride Through the Forest	204	(8)
``Luxury Had Grown Abundantly''	212	(10)
``A Violent and Murderous Ambition''	222	(11)
``May the Emperor Live Forever!''	233	(12)
``Josephine Empress of the French''	245	(12)
``I Will Behave Like the Victim I Am''	257	(13)
``They Are Inveterate Against Me''	270	(10)
``As Though a Deadly Poison Were Spreading Through My Veins''	280	(11)
``The Elder Sister of the Graces''	291	(10)
``Alone, Abandoned, and in the Midst of Strangers''	301	(10)
``A Profound Solitude Would Please Me Most''	311	(10)
Recessional	321	(10)
``I Have Never in My Life Lacked Courage''	331	(8)
Restoration	339	(8)
Epilogue	347	(4)
Notes	351	(20)
Works Cited	371	(4)
Index	375