Josephine: A Life of the Empress

by Carolly Erickson

The bestselling author of The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette and The Last Wife of Henry VIII returns with an enchanting novel about one of the most seductive women in history: Josephine Bonaparte, first wife of Napoleon.

Born on the Caribbean island of Martinique, Josephine had an exotic Creole appeal that would ultimately propel her to reign over an empire as wife of the most powerful man in the world. But her life is a story of ambition and danger, of luck and a ferocious will to survive. Married young to an arrogant French aristocrat who died during the Terror, Josephine also narrowly missed losing her head to the guillotine. But her extraordinary charm, sensuality, and natural cunning helped her become mistress to some of the most powerful politicians in post-Revolutionary France. Soon she had married the much younger General Bonaparte, whose armies garnered France an empire that ran from Europe to Africa and the New World and who crowned himself and his wife Emperor and Empress of France. He dominated on the battlefield and she presided over the worlds of fashion and glamor. But Josephine's heart belonged to another man--the mysterious, compelling stranger who had won her as a girl in Martinique.

Genres: Biography, History, Nonfiction, France, Audiobook, Historical, Royalty

400 pages, Hardcover

First published March 31, 1999

About the author

Distinguished historian Carolly Erickson is the author of The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette, The First Elizabeth, Great Catherine, Alexandra and many other prize-winning works of fiction and nonfiction. She lives in Hawaii.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/caroll...

Reviews

[Lois · Rating 1 out of 5]

So I'm reading a biography of Napoleon and referencing this to cross check relevant info.
I had forgotten just how offensive this biography was.
The author portrays the slave uprising as horrific and worse than chattel slavery. Chattel slavery was awful and what the revolting enslaved peoples did to their former oppressors wasn't anywhere near as awful as what those oppressors had been doing to them for centuries.
To focus on the violence of the revolt and not once mention the violence involved in chattel slavery operations is both white supremacist and slavery apologist.
Plus this author treats Enslaved West Africans as if they were exotic and sensual, not being raped, tortured and forced into such physically demanding labor that the average life span of an enslaved person on the islands was 3 years.
She makes it seem like the enslaved forced the white islanders to leave. No, they refused to be enslaved anymore. The white folks could've stayed and done their own work but chose not to.
They left when their stolen possessions were repossessed.
This author acts like white people are 100% entitled to enslave West Africans while stealing from Indigenous peoples and should only rebel in ways that don't harm white people.
Totally forgetting that enslaved folks fought through court systems and politely for years for their freedom. Finally, when they realized that white folks who hold West African peoples in bondage are incapable of being fair with them. They had to meet violence with violence. It was long overdue and exactly what the slave oppressors deserved. I'm only sorry more white slave oppressors weren't killed, including their wives and children. After all enslaved women and children aren't spared brutality.Violence is literally the ONLY language white supremacy understands.
Black people are not human sacrifices who have to nobly sacrifice their lives and well being into infinity because white supremacists are incapable of humanity.
No.
Violence should be met with violence.
That's why Armed Services are armed with weapons and not love.
The author also utterly ignores how the wealthy in France were stealing horribly from the poor people. Poor people were spending 60-90% of their income JUST on food. That's not ridiculous and
unsustainable.
Why should millions starve so that the wealthy can have nice things they can't afford without stealing from poor people.
I honestly am not sure this author is even a real historian.
This is terrible.

Yikes
This is a hot mess.
The beginning treats chattel slavery in an unbelievably racist way.
Like enslaved west africans were: exotic, superstitious and amoral. The author's own words.
Not sure how this racist support of white supremacy got past a publisher but I'm unable to use any of the info given.
Any author worth their weight im shit would never portray chattel slavery in this repulsive and offensive manner.

[Naomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook version of this. I spent the first few chapters confused as to why I was listening the a biography of some chick named Rose Tascher from Martinique. Clearly I was not familiar at all with the subject. I had to Google Rose de Beauharnaise to find out they were the same person. Derf. This was a really revealing story and so sad for both Josephine and Napolean, but not in the tragic, romantic way I had previously heard and partially remember from the tv miniseries in the 1980s. What a sad, rough life. It's not often you hear about how grasping and desperate the French nobility of l'ancien regime were.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars for book. ZERO stars for Napoleon. Gahbage human. Do not recommend marrying.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carolly Erickson has made a career of writing biographies of history's female royalty. Josephine tells the story of the legendary Josephine Beauharnais Bonaparte. Born of impoverished minor aristocrats who grew sugar cane on island of Martinique, Josephine, then called Rose, grew up far from the grandeur of the Paris of Louis XVI and Maria Antoinette. Her childhood was an indolent one, steeped in the magic of the Caribbean, and her formal education was mediocre at best. When it came time for marriage, the 16 year old Rose journeyed to France to marry Alexandre de Beauharnais, a wealthy cousin. Her early life in Paris, and her terrifying experiences during the bloody years of the Revolution, are vividly portrayed.

But Josephine today is best known as the wife of Napoleon, and their relationship is generally believed to have been one of history's greatest love stories. Judging by Erickson's portrayal, it was anything but. It's true that Napoleon fell deeply in love with her, but at no time did she reciprocate his feelings. Both husband and wife conducted affairs on the side, and by the time he crowned himself emperor, his ardor for Josephine had dwindled, his treatment of her becoming rather cold. Erickson does an admirable job in conveying a sense of her multifaceted personality, and is especially effective when writing about Josephine's relationship with her two children from her first marriage. Her solitary years at Malmaison are covered, as are her travels in France and in Europe.

Ms. Erickson has a pleasant expository style, skilfully breathing life into facts and events. Biography can be deadly dull, but Josephine is both informative and entertaining.

[Jacob Dickens · Rating 2 out of 5]

A decent biography of a woman whose story is usually told in reference to her famous husband.

However, it relied a lot of speculation - the author spends a lot of time telling us how Josephine ‘must have felt’ or imagining her feelings/reactions.

The first half is good - telling Josephine’s story from birth up to her meeting with Bonaparte.

However from this point things take a turn. Largely due to the portrayal of Napoleon being often inaccurate. Having studied him, and read countless books and first hand sources in the process, this biography seems to extrapolate scant evidence to turn him into a much more violent and abusive husband than in reality. This stands at odds with a lot of other books. The author may have felt this served to help us empathise with poor Josephine, but the result is it turns her into a helpless victim with little agency. The latter chapters of the book make for sad reading - brief summaries of what Napoleon is up to, followed by Josephine’s reaction, repeat until the end.

The audiobook also had a few small mistakes of the wrong word being used - mistakes possibly in the original text.

In summary - a good look at Josephine’s early life, but also prone to too much speculation.

[Kate Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Erickson is a fine writer who maintains admirable focus and pace in recounting an amazing life. She combines a sympathetic, almost novelistic style with solid research, documented in endnotes.
Josephine's rise from an impoverished girl from the boondocks (the tiny island of Martinique) to the empress of France shows what can be accomplished with beauty and savvy social skills plus a fortuitous aristocratic connection. Despite her fame, glamor and wealth though, who would want to change places with her and go through the unhappy relationships, betrayal, illnesses, danger from constantly shifting politics, imprisonment, near execution and constant debt she faced? Much better to sit back and read about it in an engrossing account like this.

[Tittirossa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una vita incredibile, quella di Giuseppina Beauharnais in Bonaparte.
E' riuscita a stare a galla sia nel marasma delirante post-rivoluzione, sia pre-post durante Napoleone! Lo stress l'ha uccisa ma almeno per un po' se l'è goduta la vita.
Una biografia non del tutto acritica (certe scelte narrative implicano un giudizio non proprio favorevole a Giuseppina), ma interessante.

[London SE4 · Rating 3 out of 5]

As they say, behind a great man there is a great woman. Josephine had a remarkable life, from her youth in luscious, exotic Martinique, to a loveless arranged marriage in Paris. We see her pulling through constant worries, lack of money, the French Revolution, prison and politics, children to raise and the execution of her husband, Alexandre de Beauharnais.
A young widow, surrounded by rich friends and lovers, always elegantly dressed. she was not beautiful, but fascinating, full of grace and sweetness. She captivated Napoleon with her charm, although her frivolity and lack of deep interest for him, cooled Bonaparte's initial passion. Sensitive, prone to terrible headaches, scared to travel in a coach, and never fully accostumed to the cold and damp weather of France, Josephine was a great socialite and always a good influence on Napoleon's brusque manners and difficult character. Carolly Erickson's book is a good read for someone who is completely new to the subject. Fashion and social history between Revolution and Empire are richly detailed, and this is probably what I appreciated the most. What I didn't enjoy was her fictional writing style in portraying Josephine's private life, which made the character look like a fad and shallow woman, all jewels, tears, heavy make up, depression and headaches. All of this counterbalanced by an abusive and egotistic Napoleon, who will divorce his self indulgent creole in the end.

[Nadine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the author assumes too much. Her historical research here is questionable, but the book was readable nonetheless.

[Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read this years ago and loved it. Years later I listened to the audio version my mind changed a bit. The narrator is very monotone which kind of distracts from the story and takes you out of the story. But mostly it's a biography written with the average reader in mind. Its light and reads more like a novel which isn't all bad. Overall I'd say it's a good start for someone new to the subject as an introduction before moving onto a bit more substantial biographies if you want to get a fuller picture of Josephine.

[Kevin McAvoy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a topic I have any interest in but the audiobook was free.
Josephine sure had a roller-coaster of a life.
She went from awaiting execution to being married to Napoleon.
A lot of selfish stupid people surrond her but she soldiers on.
I don't think I need to know more about French aristocracy.

[Jeanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I knew about Josephine before reading this book:
1. She was married to Napoleon
2. He divorced her
So, not a lot. I now know a lot more, and I appreciate that major gaps have been filled. However, there was so much conjecture and assumption made here. I found that a little frustrating.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and a half stars perhaps. My version was an audiobook and the narrator wasn’t really my cup of tea, which colours my experience. But I enjoyed the book. I suspect if it was written in our current decade it would have been written somewhat differently, as our ways of ‘doing history’ have changed, as have the stories and interests that matter to us. So this is what it is. Nevertheless, I was intrigued. Being a Josephine myself, I have since childhood frequently received comments about this famous woman (mostly the “not tonight Josephine”, nudge nudge, wink wink, sort of comment) but never made the effort to know anything about her. So it was about time really.

Whether this was the best biography to choose, never mind, I am not studying her, and there are plenty of people more interesting than Josephine Bonaparte. I’m not even sure I liked her. But it was fascinating hearing this version of her life against the backdrop of her colonial upbringing and the upheavals of the French Revolution … tracing one person’s story through all these big changes and intrigues. When I learned about them at school these events were told through the lives of famous men and what they did with their power. This was a woman’s story - albeit ultra-privileged - a story of survival and vulnerability, of character and courage, of wit and wile and pragmatism and passion, of the weaving of connections and soft power, and the effects of living with various kinds of abuse for many years.

I was particularly struck by the chapters on the period of the revolution. Mainly because of how similar it all sounded to so many other revolutions, from Britain to China and everywhere in between. Human behaviour and what we do with power is so hard to come to terms with sometimes.

[Andrew Canfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

The tales of Napoleon’s battlefield exploits are all but mandatory reading for those who enjoy learning about modern European history. His campaigns and tactics as head of an empire have been gone over by numerous historians in numerous formats, and deservedly so. But his first wife Josephine often is only a supporting actor in the broader Napoleonic continental story, and while this is understandable she certainly merits a biography of her own.

Composing this sort of biography is precisely what historian Carolly Erickson, no stranger to writing about royalty in the British realm, has sought to do.

Her fabulous work Josephine: A Life of the Empress starts with the titular character’s birth to Joseph and Rose Claire de la Pagerie on the island of Martinique. Rose, as Josephine was known in her younger years, was born to a family of transplanted French sugar planters in the Caribbean who were high on no one’s rank of nobility. Their plantation was laid waste to by a hurricane at the same time Josephine was being born in June of 1763.

Rose grew up on Martininque before moving to France and marrying Alexander de Beauharnais, a French general with combat experience in both the American and French Revolutionary Wars. Erickson takes time to paint the landscape of immediate pre-revolutionary France, where “the measure of a man’s wealth (was) his unpaid bills” and the lavish living of Marie Antoinette was but one symptom of a wider societal problem of conspicuous consumption by the royal and First Estate. The growing destabilization of French society would ultimately render the revolution inevitable, and the author uses Rose’s perspective as the lens through which to view this tumultuous period in France.

Once hailed a hero, Alexander (like so many during the Reign of Terror) came to be viewed as enemy of the new republic and was put to death following time in prison. Owing largely to guilt by association, his wife was jailed in a Carmelite prison as another potential enemy of the Revolution. Rose escaped all but certain death herself when Maximliam Robespierre fell from power before her own execution could be carried through with.

The book abruptly switches gears when Josephine meets and then is wedded to Napoleon Bonaparte, a French general of Corsican birth who rose to fame putting down Parisian mobs and fighting pro-monarchy armies in Italy. Erickson does nice work not turning the book into a biography of Napoleon, but instead keeping events within the context of how they impacted Josephine.

Josephine’s children with the now-deceased Alexander were son Eugene and daughter Hortense Beauharnais, and both of them would get sucked into the world of the Bonapartes. Hortense was married to Napoleon’s brother Louis, while Eugene would become an important officer in Napoleon’s Grand Armee. This army was used to conquer numerous countries in Europe during Napoleon’s efforts to dominate the continent, and Josephine was constantly worried about her son’s safety during his military campaigns.

Dealings with the Bonapartes and Josephine’s family made for the most interesting reading of the entire book. The Bonapartes were newcomers to the scene of high Parisian society, and their lack of ease with adopting an aristocratic air translated into hostility toward Josephine. Napoleon’s sister Pauline was particularly harsh toward her, and his brothers seemed to have little but contempt for their sister-in-law (and mother-in-law in the case of Louis).

Josephine’s aristocratic and affable manner of being contrasted sharply with Napoleon’s intensity.

Josephine would not be blameless in the ultimate trajectory of her marriage to Napoleon, as she was by no means maritally faithful. She carried on an affair with French army member Hippolyte Charles, and both she and Hippolyte were accused of war profiteering off sales of a company they both held an interest in. But Napoleon was not blameless either, carrying on numerous affairs and becoming furious when his wife called him out on it.

His extramarital relationship with Polish noblewoman Marie Walewska was of a particularly conspicuous nature. And yet the Bonapartes were quick to make Josephine out to be a woman of loose morals, even projecting this onto her children. When Louis married Hortense he insisted he would leave her if she gave birth a single day before the normal term due to her “morally suspect” status as offspring of Josephine.

Josephine would be by her husband’s side in Notre Dame Cathedral during his crowning as Emperor by the pope 1804, but the marriage would end in divorce five years later. This separation owed largely to Napoleon’s frustrations over Josephine's inability to become pregnant as well as her lack of a link with Europe’s dynastic houses. His second marriage solved this dynastic house issue: next up as spouse would be the Austrian Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma and daughter of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa.

As the former empress, Josephine spent her time at the Malmaison chateau. This was west of Paris, outside of the seat of power now occupied by the Emperor and his new Empress.

Napoleon would shunt Josephine to the side out of concern Marie would otherwise become jealous, but she was returned to favor following his expulsion to Elba. The book details the kindness shown to her by the victorious Czar Alexander I of Russia, who alongside the newly installed Louis XVIII seemed to forgive her former connection to Napoleon and appeared to think highly of her graceful air.

Josephine would die during the interim of Napoleon’s exile to Elba but before his final downfall at the hands of the Duke of Wellington, not living to see his Hundred Days campaign of desperate combat.

Josephine: A Life of the Empress is a really solidly written biography. It briskly makes its way through Josephine's journey from Martinique to the spouse of France's most powerful individual, telling the story of a high stakes family feud with excellent prose.

Carrolly Erickson has put together a well-rounded portrait of Josephine, and this book is a must read for anyone interested in learning all they can about the Napoleonic era.

-Andrew Canfield Denver, Colorado

[MissSusie · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I got this book I thought it was historical fiction, when it arrived it said it was a biography. So I thought ok but even as I was reading it I wasn't sure if it was a novel or a biography, it definitely reads like a novel.

I guess I didn't know much about Josephine when I started this book but I always thought that Napoleon & Josephine had this great love story but according to this book that’s not the case.

It was ok it did read like a novel at first then got a bit boring towards the end where I just wanted it to be over.
2 ½ Stars

[Steena · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do not have a large interest in Josephine Bonaparte but found this book easily digestible and a great source of interesting information on the one-time Empress of France. It was not, as I thought, historical fiction but a true biography. Much to my enjoyment it was a very descriptive and entertaining biography. I enjoyed the audio book immensely and might not have found it so engaging as a print read.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook. I think I was in just the right mood for it. I didn't know much about Empress Josephine, but I love reading about the French Revolution and I've always been interested in the Napoleonic Wars. Also, I have spring fever, so I think I would have enjoyed just about whatever I was listening to while soaking up the sun and the slightly above freezing March temperatures.

There were a few drawbacks. I didn't love the voice of the narrator. My husband heard her reading once and said "Whoa, do you like that narrator's voice?" and I didn't, but it wasn't the worst I'd ever heard. Her pronunciation of certain French words really grated on me (in particular: "Hortense" and "Victoire" *shudders*) but overall, she was fine. Also, I think Carolly Erickson jumped to a lot of conclusions about what Josephine must have been thinking and how she was feeling at many points in the narrative. So I took a lot of what Erickson wrote with a big grain of salt. I also wasn't thrilled with how Erickson characterized middle age (she referred to it as "bleak"). That was depressing, but I got over it.

As for the positive, I thought the pacing was good. I was interested in every section of the story, even the less flashy periods of French history. The section during the Reign of Terror was very exciting, as was the section during Napoleon's Empire. I thought Erickson did a great job helping us empathize with Josephine during the various periods of her life.

4 solid stars

Other stray thoughts:
-My family will be happy that I'm finally finished this book, so that they won't have to hear any more random Napoleon facts.
-Only my five-year-old son was super into those facts. He wanted to know how many soldiers Napoleon had (because he sings a little song at his French school about Napoleon having 500 soldiers). I told him that Napoleon lost over 300,000 of them trying to invade Russia, so that history lesson turned into a downer.
-Poor Josephine had horrible migraines and Napoleon often made her go horseback riding or host dinner parties while she was suffering from them. Napoleon sucked.
-Josephine's first husband, when he was nineteen years old, initially wanted to marry her younger sister because Josephine was "too old" for him, at the age of fourteen. Her first husband also sucked.
-Napoleon's coronation was a gong show. All of his relatives had tantrums because they wanted various titles like prince or princess and made a big fuss over everything. His mother was so offended over her title that she went off to Rome and skipped the coronation altogether.
-One of my favourite anecdotes in this book was about how Napoleon loved to ride horses in a daring way, even though he wasn't a very skilled rider. He would often fall off his horse, and his attendants would wait in anticipation, worried that he was hurt. He would yell "I broke my neck!!" and then pop back up onto his horse, unhurt. Erickson just dropped this story with no other explanation.
-I just learned that the narrator died when a flash flood trapped her in her basement and now I feel like a terrible person.

[Ana-Maria Bujor · Rating 4 out of 5]

More like 3.5, but I appreciated the effort put into it. A lot of research must have gone into this pretty massive biography. There is a lot of detail, starting from the early years and leading to the sad end.
The level of detail is what bothered me most, I felt the book could have been shorter. But even so, it kept my interests as there were far more trials and tribulations than expected. And Josephine was a definitely more complex person than popular culture makes her out to be now. Her relationship with Napoleon was ver toxic, and yet they could not stay away. I wish there was more information from his perspective, little is said about how he felt about things.
While the book keeps tightly to describing her life and nothing more, I wish there was a little analysis on her impact on culture now and the way she is perceived. But maybe other books do that. For what it is, it is a quite impressive biography of a complex personality.

[Carol Bakker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Does this happen to anyone else? You finish a book, scratch your head and ask "WHY did I read that?"

Ugh. And, for full disclosure, this is the *second* biography I read of Josephine. (The first was from the Makers of History series by Jacob Abbott.)

I learned that all the portraits of Josephine show her mouth closed because her teeth were black. Well now.

There's not much I can admire about this woman. She definitely had spunk. Her first husband had his head lopped off; she was scheduled next, but the mob executed Robespierre and set her free. Later she married Napoleon, who crowned her Empress of France.

When she was at the peak of power, it seems her works of mercy were renown.

On the liability side of the spreadsheet there are multitudes of lies, schemes, infidelity, narcissism, greed, reckless spending, gargantuan debt, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

The residual emotion after finishing this was pity.

[CelticMoonGoddess · Rating 5 out of 5]

History in context, told from the the life of a woman (who from the author's writing and research) was a remarkable and unique woman not only of her own time when she walked the earth. I was intrigued with a sense of a women that touches your heart and makes her real and timeless in her struggles, insecurities, relationships, love, survival instincts, flaws and the daily life of experiences and living. Enjoyed the journey into that part of history and time told from a different perspective of a woman, albeit of privilege, and her life's story of a hero's journey.
A well written and enjoyable read/listen as listened to the audio version on audible which was a lovely experience with a very good narrator.

[Mary A · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating story about a very interesting woman. She was a real survivor and had an extraordinary ability to make friends and influence people so that she, and the people she loved, would not only survive but thrive.

She obviously suffered from untreated PTSD and anxiety, and so became very nervous and, at times, hysterically demanding and foolish - but she still managed to conduct herself with enough grace and dignity that most people thought highly of her.

Napoleon came across as an abusive and narcissistic bully - and his relatives as unbelievably horrible people that even he couldn’t control!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Erickson needs a better editor. Several reviewers here say the style is that of a novel and I disagree. The style is very historical. What little dialog there is has been well-documented. Erickson does a good job pointing out when historical sources are not clear, especially in the footnotes. This gives the reader confidence that she does not embroider the truth. She retells events primarily from an outside, objective point of view, but secondarily from Rose/Josephine's point of view, which explains why servants have merely background roles. I'm glad I read this book.

[Jill Starley-grainger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, evocative biography of Josephine, adored by Napoleon and the French people. What a dramatic life she had. And while it's very easy to cast her as a villain noblewoman, she was a woman of her time, and what a time to be alive - although I am glad I wasn't then. But a lot of drama, and the author does an outstanding job of bringing the events of the nobility of that time to life. They were certainly much racier and wilder than we are today. Fascinating woman with a fascinating life, and really well written.

[Natalie Westbrook · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was completely unaware of the immense pain that Josephine had to endure. Her deep and desperate love for Napoleon is beautifully portrayed, leaving readers with a profound sense of sadness and pity for her. Throughout the book, I found myself yearning to offer her solace and support. It is truly heartbreaking to witness her struggle after being abandoned by her beloved. I couldn't help but wish for her to find happiness with another partner. This book is a poignant and remarkable exploration of Josephine's life, making it an exceptional read.

[Alina García-Lapuerta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating life…I’ve read numerous biographies about Josephine and never seem to tire of them. All seem to tease out different angles and perspectives. It was a much harsher and darker life than many imagine seeing the portraits of her as Napoleon’s Empress. Another good biography is Andrea Stuart’s The Rose of Martinique. Stuart has an interesting background for this subject as she’s from the Caribbean and wrote an excellent memoir of her own mixed race family called Sugar in the Blood.

[Gregg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this was a bit long and would have benefitted from some purposeful editing to get the size down. I do think it will enhance my experience when I watch the Napoleon movie. I was fascinated by the storylines when I randomly visited her summer home outside of Versailles. Josephine was not super attractive although she did have other good qualities in spades. She appears to have seduced and friend-zoned Napoleon as a means to survival for her and her children in revolutionary France.

[Bryant Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started off so well. Explained how well she maneuvered herself for financial and social gain. But she somehow turns into a victim. The tone of this book (and Napoleon books) should read... both of these people used each other for political and social reasons. Both created a toxic relationship. It’s lame to victimize someone who was REALLY awful to her husband at first.

[Karen Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The audiobook was a pleasant listen - although like another reviewer, I drifted through an early part of it, wondering who "Rose" was, until realizing this was the young Josephine. About all I knew of Josephine was that she and Napoleon were married (I thought, very happily) and eventually divorced (I thought, very sadly). Turns out, as usual, that there's a lot more to the story...and to her.

[Jamie Crutchley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before reading: Josephine’s birth name was Rose. This will help. A fairly decent accounting of the life of this famous woman. The detailing of her upbringing in Martinique is pretty fascinating. The world relies a lot on speculation and imagining of Josephine’s state of mind - but it does this with decent restraint that largely fleshes out the story of her life. An enjoyable read.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Could not finish:

This is listed as fiction but written like biographical fact.
This is confusing, as this book would be a struggle to finish if these were actual facts. But as a work of fiction, it is incredibly boring. There's no compelling story or characters. In fact, there's no story at all. Just a list of movements of each character. There's, quite literally, no point to this book..