<p>A wonderfully rich and evocative biography which tells the extraordinary story of one of the most remarkable female lives of modern history: Josephine Bonaparte. One of the most potent icons of female sexuality, Josephine has largely been reduced to an empty cipher, the butt of one of the oldest jokes around. Hitherto, her life has been portrayed almost entirely in connection with Napoleon, but that relationship, fascinating though it undoubtedly was, was only a tiny fraction of the life she led as a Caribbean woman in the salons of eighteenth-century Paris. Andrea Stuart shares with her subject a Caribbean background and is able to offer a unique insight into the world which Josephine left as a plump schoolgirl for Paris and marriage to her cousin, Viscount Alexandre Beauharnais. Expecting an exotic Creole bride, Beauharnais set about a radical transformation and the dowdy teenager soon became a sophisticated sensual beauty, the darling of the pre-revolutionary salons. As the revolution reached its endgame, Josephine, now widowed with two small children, met her Emperor and the rest, as they say, is history. More eventful than the most lurid novel, no single life so embodies the vice and virtues, the tumult and dangers of the period through which she lived. By reconstructing Josephine's life and world, Andrea Stuart brilliantly captures the extraordinary drama of the age and its unique atmosphere and social significance.</p>

The Rose of Martinique: A Life of Napoleon's Josephine

Biographies & Memoirs

Andrea Stuart

Community & Culture

Macmillan

The descendant of both European planters and African slaves, Andrea Stuart brings to life the contrasting experiences of both sides of her family as she traces its history since George Ashby's journey to Barbados in the late 1630s. Her story reflects the region's social history - families which mostly started out as ethnically white and became, over time, predominantly black - but also demonstrates the inequality in a society where white families' histories are recorded, and slaves 'leave only very faint footsteps'.

Sugar: A Family Memoir

Portobello Books Ltd

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Andrea Stuart. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Andrea Stuart

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Andrea Stuart. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Rose of Martinique: A Life of Napoleon's Josephine

Sugar: A Family Memoir