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The Last Love
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436 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1963
24 people are currently reading
182 people want to read
About the author
Thomas B. Costain
128 books186 followersCostain was born in Brantford, Ontario to John Herbert Costain and Mary Schultz. He attended high school there at the Brantford Collegiate Institute. Before graduating from high school he had written four novels, one of which was a 70,000 word romance about Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange. These early novels were rejected by publishers.
His first writing success came in 1902 when the Brantford Courier accepted a mystery story from him, and he became a reporter there (for five dollars a week). He was an editor at the Guelph Daily Mercury between 1908 and 1910. He married Ida Randolph Spragge (1888–1975) in York, Ontario on January 12, 1910. The couple had two children, Molly (Mrs. Howard Haycraft) and Dora (Mrs. Henry Darlington Steinmetz). Also in 1910, Costain joined the Maclean Publishing Group where he edited three trade journals. Beginning in 1914, he was a staff writer for and, from 1917, editor of Toronto-based Maclean's magazine. His success there brought him to the attention of The Saturday Evening Post in New York City where he was fiction editor for fourteen years.
In 1920 he became a naturalized U.S. citizen. He also worked for Doubleday Books as an editor 1939-1946. He was the head of 20th Century Fox’s bureau of literary development (story department) from 1934 to 1942.
In 1940, he wrote four short novels but was “enough of an editor not to send them out”. He next planned to write six books in a series he called “The Stepchildren of History”. He would write about six interesting but unknown historical figures. For his first, he wrote about the seventeenth-century pirate John Ward aka Jack Ward. In 1942, he realized his longtime dream when this first novel For My Great Folly was published, and it became a bestseller with over 132,000 copies sold. The New York Times reviewer stated at the end of the review "there will be no romantic-adventure lover left unsatisfied." In January 1946 he "retired" to spend the rest of his life writing, at a rate of about 3,000 words a day.
Raised as a Baptist, he was reported in the 1953 Current Biography to be an attendant of the Protestant Episcopal Church. He was described as a handsome, tall, broad-shouldered man with a pink and white complexion, clear blue eyes, and a slight Canadian accent. He was white-haired by the time he began to write novels. He loved animals and could not even kill a bug (but he also loved bridge, and he did not extend the same policy to his partners). He also loved movies and the theatre (he met his future wife when she was performing Ruth in the The Pirates of Penzance).
Costain's work is a mixture of commercial history (such as The White and The Gold, a history of New France to around 1720) and fiction that relies heavily on historic events (one review stated it was hard to tell where history leaves off and apocrypha begins). His most popular novel was The Black Rose (1945), centred in the time and actions of Bayan of the Baarin also known as Bayan of the Hundred Eyes. Costain noted in his foreword that he initially intended the book to be about Bayan and Edward I, but became caught up in the legend of Thomas a Becket's parents: an English knight married to an Eastern girl. The book was a selection of the Literary Guild with a first printing of 650,000 copies and sold over two million copies in its first year.
His research led him to believe that Richard III was a great monarch tarred by conspiracies, after his death, with the murder of the princes in the tower. Costain supported his theories with documentation, suggesting that the real murderer was Henry VII.
Costain died in 1965 at his New York City home of a heart attack at the age of 80. He is buried in the Farringdon Independent Church Cemetery in Brantford.
His first writing success came in 1902 when the Brantford Courier accepted a mystery story from him, and he became a reporter there (for five dollars a week). He was an editor at the Guelph Daily Mercury between 1908 and 1910. He married Ida Randolph Spragge (1888–1975) in York, Ontario on January 12, 1910. The couple had two children, Molly (Mrs. Howard Haycraft) and Dora (Mrs. Henry Darlington Steinmetz). Also in 1910, Costain joined the Maclean Publishing Group where he edited three trade journals. Beginning in 1914, he was a staff writer for and, from 1917, editor of Toronto-based Maclean's magazine. His success there brought him to the attention of The Saturday Evening Post in New York City where he was fiction editor for fourteen years.
In 1920 he became a naturalized U.S. citizen. He also worked for Doubleday Books as an editor 1939-1946. He was the head of 20th Century Fox’s bureau of literary development (story department) from 1934 to 1942.
In 1940, he wrote four short novels but was “enough of an editor not to send them out”. He next planned to write six books in a series he called “The Stepchildren of History”. He would write about six interesting but unknown historical figures. For his first, he wrote about the seventeenth-century pirate John Ward aka Jack Ward. In 1942, he realized his longtime dream when this first novel For My Great Folly was published, and it became a bestseller with over 132,000 copies sold. The New York Times reviewer stated at the end of the review "there will be no romantic-adventure lover left unsatisfied." In January 1946 he "retired" to spend the rest of his life writing, at a rate of about 3,000 words a day.
Raised as a Baptist, he was reported in the 1953 Current Biography to be an attendant of the Protestant Episcopal Church. He was described as a handsome, tall, broad-shouldered man with a pink and white complexion, clear blue eyes, and a slight Canadian accent. He was white-haired by the time he began to write novels. He loved animals and could not even kill a bug (but he also loved bridge, and he did not extend the same policy to his partners). He also loved movies and the theatre (he met his future wife when she was performing Ruth in the The Pirates of Penzance).
Costain's work is a mixture of commercial history (such as The White and The Gold, a history of New France to around 1720) and fiction that relies heavily on historic events (one review stated it was hard to tell where history leaves off and apocrypha begins). His most popular novel was The Black Rose (1945), centred in the time and actions of Bayan of the Baarin also known as Bayan of the Hundred Eyes. Costain noted in his foreword that he initially intended the book to be about Bayan and Edward I, but became caught up in the legend of Thomas a Becket's parents: an English knight married to an Eastern girl. The book was a selection of the Literary Guild with a first printing of 650,000 copies and sold over two million copies in its first year.
His research led him to believe that Richard III was a great monarch tarred by conspiracies, after his death, with the murder of the princes in the tower. Costain supported his theories with documentation, suggesting that the real murderer was Henry VII.
Costain died in 1965 at his New York City home of a heart attack at the age of 80. He is buried in the Farringdon Independent Church Cemetery in Brantford.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
October 15, 2011
"I have a deep-seated feeling-a premonition, if you like-that all through my life , no matter what I become or where I go, I am fated to have trouble with England and Englishmen."
After his escape from Elba, after the 100 days and his defeat at Waterloo, came Napoleon's last exile on the remote island of St. Helena. The house he's supposed to reside in is rat infested and most definitely not ready for occupation, so he spends his first two months in the garden pavilion of local merchant William Balcombe. Balcombe's daughter Lucia Elizabeth (Betsy) is the only one to speak French (she does some of the translating) and the two develop a great friendship despite the difficulties the Balcombes encounter from the new hardline governor for consorting with the *enemy*.
Not having read much about Napoleon, this was a bit of history I'd not heard of before and might never have but for a lucky find whilst scrounging the used book store, and I'm very glad I picked it up. This isn't a book with high action/adventure, and while there is some political double-dealing of sorts, that isn't the main focus of the book - that would be the friendship between young Betsy and Napoleon. Whether he was a ruthless tyrant or brilliant soldier, I really liked reading about this unique friendship with "Betsee" seeing him through her eyes, as well as hearing him reflect back on his life - my favorite was his childhood in Corsica and relationship with his siblings (Oh, that Pauline was quite a scamp).
To avoid spoiling I'll not go further into what happens towards the end (sniff) as their relationship changes a bit as Betsy grows up (loved the chats about women's clothing and who was better at making them, the French or English). Definitely recommended for those interested in all things Napoleon. Other books on the topic,
To Befriend an Emperor: Betsy Balcombe's Memoirs of Napoleon on St Helena
St. Helena Story by Mabel Emmerton Brookes
Betsy and the Emperorby Staton Rabin (supposedly there's some chat of making this into a movie)
And speaking of movies, there is Monsieur N available on DVD with subtitles.
After his escape from Elba, after the 100 days and his defeat at Waterloo, came Napoleon's last exile on the remote island of St. Helena. The house he's supposed to reside in is rat infested and most definitely not ready for occupation, so he spends his first two months in the garden pavilion of local merchant William Balcombe. Balcombe's daughter Lucia Elizabeth (Betsy) is the only one to speak French (she does some of the translating) and the two develop a great friendship despite the difficulties the Balcombes encounter from the new hardline governor for consorting with the *enemy*.
Not having read much about Napoleon, this was a bit of history I'd not heard of before and might never have but for a lucky find whilst scrounging the used book store, and I'm very glad I picked it up. This isn't a book with high action/adventure, and while there is some political double-dealing of sorts, that isn't the main focus of the book - that would be the friendship between young Betsy and Napoleon. Whether he was a ruthless tyrant or brilliant soldier, I really liked reading about this unique friendship with "Betsee" seeing him through her eyes, as well as hearing him reflect back on his life - my favorite was his childhood in Corsica and relationship with his siblings (Oh, that Pauline was quite a scamp).
To avoid spoiling I'll not go further into what happens towards the end (sniff) as their relationship changes a bit as Betsy grows up (loved the chats about women's clothing and who was better at making them, the French or English). Definitely recommended for those interested in all things Napoleon. Other books on the topic,
To Befriend an Emperor: Betsy Balcombe's Memoirs of Napoleon on St Helena
St. Helena Story by Mabel Emmerton Brookes
Betsy and the Emperorby Staton Rabin (supposedly there's some chat of making this into a movie)
And speaking of movies, there is Monsieur N available on DVD with subtitles.
November 11, 2011
Okay, here's the scoop....This book was written in 1963, a mere two years before my big Napoleon crush. I recently read that it's being made into a feature film, 47 years after first publication. What took so long? :) I think I'll go to alibris.com and see if I can find a first.
Other Thomas B. Costain books I read during those same years: Below the Salt, The Silver Chalice, The Black Rose, The Darkness and the Dawn, High Towers, and Ride With Me.
Note to self: Re-read the first four listed. It's been too long.
Other Thomas B. Costain books I read during those same years: Below the Salt, The Silver Chalice, The Black Rose, The Darkness and the Dawn, High Towers, and Ride With Me.
Note to self: Re-read the first four listed. It's been too long.
August 1, 2017
Pole midagi parata, aga raamat oli täpselt nii hea, kui ma mäletasin. Minu esimene lugemine jäi ajajärku, kui koolis oli läbitud Napoleoni teema ja mul tekkis suur vaimustus selle suurmehe osas. See raamat sattus minu kätte tookord juhuslikult, aga ohh seda vaimustust :D Hakkasin seda ümber kirjutama! Käsitsi (sest arvuteid veel sellistel eesmärkidel ei kasutatud ning ilmselt polnud ka kättesaadavad)!!!
Ma arvan jätkuvalt, et tegemist on suurmehega ning mul on kahju, et talle selline lõpp osaks sai.
Raamat siis põhineb nii tõsielul kui kirjaniku väljamõeldisel. Mis saarel tegelikult toimus, jääb ilmselt lõplikult teadmata. On võimalik lihtsalt uurida erinevaid memuaare.
Ma arvan jätkuvalt, et tegemist on suurmehega ning mul on kahju, et talle selline lõpp osaks sai.
Raamat siis põhineb nii tõsielul kui kirjaniku väljamõeldisel. Mis saarel tegelikult toimus, jääb ilmselt lõplikult teadmata. On võimalik lihtsalt uurida erinevaid memuaare.
November 30, 2025
Contain paints an interesting portrait of Napoleon’s strange relationship with a spunky English girl during his final exile.
Yep that’s about it. That’s all I knew going in and that’s what I got. There’s a couple subplots that don’t really go anywhere and there’s some flashbacks to Napoleon’s early life but other than that it’s all Betsy and Napoleon hangin’.
That’s not to say it’s bad by any means, but if you’re not interested in Napoleon, don’t bother. I have a half hearted interest in the enigmatic tyrant so I enjoyed it, but, it definitely took a long time for me to finish.
Costain focuses on Napoleon’s love life and youth rather than on his famous exploits, which effectively humanizes a larger than life figure. By the end I was shocked to find myself sympathetic to his plight. I wish the author spent more time writing from Napoleon’s perspective, because those sections were the most moving.
Overall it’s a great narrative of a historical footnote.
Yep that’s about it. That’s all I knew going in and that’s what I got. There’s a couple subplots that don’t really go anywhere and there’s some flashbacks to Napoleon’s early life but other than that it’s all Betsy and Napoleon hangin’.
That’s not to say it’s bad by any means, but if you’re not interested in Napoleon, don’t bother. I have a half hearted interest in the enigmatic tyrant so I enjoyed it, but, it definitely took a long time for me to finish.
Costain focuses on Napoleon’s love life and youth rather than on his famous exploits, which effectively humanizes a larger than life figure. By the end I was shocked to find myself sympathetic to his plight. I wish the author spent more time writing from Napoleon’s perspective, because those sections were the most moving.
Overall it’s a great narrative of a historical footnote.
August 2, 2015
Having read this just after Betsy Balcombe's Recollections Of The Emperor Napoleon, During The First Three Years Of His Captivity On The Island Of St. Helena, I can appreciate how the author blended Betsy's vision of Napoleon with fiction here. But, anyway the non fictional book was way more interesting, lively and moving to me than Costain's novel. A few liberties are taken, and there's some blunders too (such as Josephine's dog turning from male to female after a couple of pages). It was O.K., but not great.
Read
June 12, 2012This author was one of my mother's favorites. I stole it from her bookshelves as she can no longer read. A good writer of historical fiction. This was his last book. There are a couple of anachronisms, such as the servants who came from Africa to an English territory who sound like slaves from the low south, but I liked it!
September 18, 2018
I found this a compelling story-- about the friendship between the once-powerful emperor and the little English girl he called "Betsee." In 1815, Napoleon, disastrously defeated at the Battle of Waterloo, is brought by a British ship to the tiny island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic. There he would be, in effect, a prisoner of the British, unable to leave the desolate island. He is able to befriend a young, pretty English girl, Elisabeth Balcombe, who, having learned French from her nursemaid, was able to help the emperor as an interpreter. Napoleon becomes quite fond of the high-spirited, curious child and is able to talk to her as he could not speak to any other, talking to her about his past, his ideas, what he would still like to accomplish...From the moment Napoleon set foot on the island, he set in motion a plot to make a daring escape from his captors, hoping to get away to America and join his brother Joseph, living in New Jersey. When his plot fails, it is then that the former conqueror of much of Europe begins his decline, his friendship for Betsee the only thing he lives for. In the end, Napoleon dies on the island and Elisabeth, having grown up and become a great beauty, goes to live in England, never forgetting the special relationship she had with the great Napoleon.
February 23, 2024
I have read several Thomas B. Costain books, but I found The Last Love to be the most moving. This novel concerns Napoleons days of exile on St. Helena island. The main thrust of the plot is a growing friendship between the exiled emperor and Betsy, the daughter of the Balcome family where Napoleon spends the beginning of his exile as a house guest waiting for his eventual home to be refurbished. Their friendship is poignant and Napoleon begins to open up about his ideas and feelings about life over time.
At university, I became interested, even fascinated while studying Napoleon for an essay. I still have a painting of him, which I bought in Paris in 1973 on my wall. I recommend this book because it is a sweet story and because it casts Napoleon in a different, more humane light than most books about him.
At university, I became interested, even fascinated while studying Napoleon for an essay. I still have a painting of him, which I bought in Paris in 1973 on my wall. I recommend this book because it is a sweet story and because it casts Napoleon in a different, more humane light than most books about him.
March 27, 2021
I rarely read novels but I decided to give “The Last Love” a try while studying for a class on Napoleon. Set during Napoleon’s exile on St. Helena it revolves around his relationship with Betsy Balcombe, the teenage daughter of the family with which Napoleon was housed when he first arrived on the island. Consisting mostly of meetings with Betsy and events and discussions occurring on St. Helena with occasional flashbacks by Napoleon. I found it to provide background into Napoleon’s life in exile and an interesting read. Fortunately, it lacks the inuendo and sensuous detail that would be found in many more recent novels. Although novels are not by first choice, this was an interesting read.
May 4, 2020
A solid and enjoyable historical novel by midcentury master Thomas Costain. Review to come!
October 27, 2021
Interesting account of Napoleon's time on St. Helena
February 25, 2017
I read this book for a book group and I really didn't understand much of it. It was about Napoleons love. Some of it is was interesting mostly it was just long.
October 9, 2013
Good historical fiction. I probably would have given it another half star if I could, but it wasn't quite a four-star book for me. This book helped me learn more about Napoleon without having to read a boring Napoleonic war book and it was couched in a love story of sorts. Boney was in exile at the end of his life and developed a close relationship with the young daughter of an English gentleman. The book is based largely on established facts, according to the author.
April 30, 2011
This is historical fiction written in the 1960s. It is about Napolean's exile in St Helena and a young woman he meets there. I enjoyed it, although the writing seemed somehow dated to me. It may be that I have been away from that genre for a while. Still, I looked forward to reading it every night. I would recommend it to people who enjoy historical fiction and the Napolean era especially.
August 3, 2009
I read this first as an adult and I think that's why I wasn't as impressed with it as with the others. I don't remember it very well. It's about Napoleon in exile.
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March 6, 2011My favorite book. Discovered it when I was in high school. Began my love of historical fiction.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews