Finding Napoleon

Plot

With its delightful adaptation of Napoleon Bonaparte’s real attempt to write a novel, Finding Napoleon offers a fresh take on Europe’s most powerful man after he’s lost everything. A forgotten woman of history—the audacious Albine de Montholon—narrates their tale of intrigue, love, and betrayal.

After the defeated Emperor Napoleon goes into exile on tiny St. Helena Island in the remote South Atlantic, he and his lover, Albine de Montholon, plot to escape and rescue his young son. Banding together African slaves, British sympathizers, a Jewish merchant, a Corsican rogue, and French followers, they confront British opposition—as well as treachery within their own ranks—with sometimes subtle, sometimes bold, but always desperate action.

When Napoleon and Albine break faith with one another, ambition and Albine’s husband threaten their reconciliation. To survive, Albine must decide whom to betray. To succeed, Napoleon must learn whom to trust.

Two hundred years after Napoleon’s death, this elegant, richly researched novel reveals the man history conceals. (AMZ)