She was once the infamous Napoleon's fiancee before she was abruptly cast aside for another woman. Later, she would marry the love of her life and become the Queen of Sweden. She is Désirée Clary, the girl from Marseilles, France, who would capture the heart of a young Napoleon Bonaparte.
Désirée Clary is the subject of Allison Pataki's new novel, The Queen's Fortune, which follows Désirée from her early years as the daughter of wealthy French merchants to her heady romance with Napoleon Bonaparte, and later to her eventual rise as the Queen of Sweden, where she started a dynasty that still sits upon the throne today.
Pataki has written a richly imagined novel about the life of Désirée, "the desired." Readers are thrust into 19th century France amidst the chaos of the French Revolution and flung into the nascent romance of a 16 year old Désirée Clary and a 25 year old Napoleon Bonaparte. As Napoleon begins to realize himself as the formidable and arrogant military and world leader he would become, he is utterly transfixed by Désirée's beauty and charm. Pataki paints a vivid portrait of Désirée and Napoleon's relationship and eventual engagement, and readers will be just as dismayed as Désirée herself to find her taking a back seat to Napoleon's future wife and Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais.
However, Pataki's novel isn't just about Désirée's relationship with Napoleon, although he always stays in the periphery of Désirée's life and remains a central figure throughout this book. Pataki also examines Désirée's other relationships and her marriage to Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, who in a surprise turn of events, would eventually become King of Sweden, in part due to his close relationship with Napoleon.
Full of history and culture, Pataki's The Queen of Fortune will appeal to historical fiction readers who enjoy novels steeped in details. On the other hand, casual readers of historical fiction who go more for the fun instead of the fact may find themselves at times bored with this book, as it is heavy on descriptions of war and wrestles for power throughout France and the rest of the world.
Availability: Book; eBook in cloudLibrary Rating: **** Stars (I really liked it Reviewer: Brooke, Public Relations Librarian
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GENRE: Biographical Fiction; Historical Fiction; Literary Fiction
WRITING STYLE: Compelling; Richly Detailed; Well-Researched
CHARACTER: Authentic TONE: Strong Sense of Place
TIME PERIOD: 18th Century; 19th Century
SUBJECT: Courtship; Elite; Jilted Women; Mistresses; Political Intrigue; Revolutions; Royal Houses; Women Rulers
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