Review: The Queen's Fortune
I've long been fascinated by the myth of Désirée Clary, the woman who was once engaged to Napoleon, then later married to Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, who was elected to become heir to King Charles XIII of Sweden and Norway. Honestly, it all began with the Jean Simmons movie, which I must have seen a dozen times as a child, because my mother was a diehard Jean Simmons fan. Hard to argue with how stunningly beautiful Simmons was. Fitting for her to play the woman who caught the eye of both the future Emperor Napoleon (boy, did she dodge a bullet there or what?) and the future King of Sweden. But truth is stranger than fiction and her husband's new "mother" Queen Hedvig Elizabeth Charlotte reportedly said of Crown Princess Désirée, who changed her name to Desideria upon her husband becoming presumptive heir, “The Princess is small, not pretty, and with no figure whatsoever. Her timidity makes her brusque. […] A spoilt child, but sweet, kind, and compassionate.”* Désirée also loathed Sweden, reportedly cried and pouted and complained endlessly and left her husband to live quietly in Paris from 1811 until 1822, leaving her son and husband in Stockholm, even after her husband's coronation as King Karl Johan XIV in 1818. She finally returned to Stockholm in 1822 with her son's future wife and remained there, rather unhappily, until her death in 1860. During her tenure in London without Bernadotte, she reportedly
became obsessed with the Duc de Richelieu to the extent that she, by modern standards, stalked him. Yes, the reality of Désirée that I learned of as an adult reader of history is a little different from fictional Désirée, so I was curious to see what Allison Pataki made of the situation.
Actress Jean Simmons as Désirée, 1954
The novel is a little heavy on the romance for my taste. Also, it's a romanticized view of Désirée herself. But it does give the reader a great sense of the period, of Napoleon's quixotic nature, of the irony of a man who rose to prominence during the Revolution coming to proclaim himself Emperor, of the grandeur in which he lived being more ostentatious than even that of the Bourbons. It's obvious that Pataki put a great amount of research into her novel. If you're okay with romantic historical fiction, this novel will be both informative and enjoyable.
The audiobook, available via Libro.fm in support of your local independent bookseller, is marvelously narrated by Justine Eyre.
*Alan Palmer, Bernadotte: Napoleon’s Marshal, Sweden’s King (London: John Murray, 1990), p. 176.
I received a paper review copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
The audiobook, available via Libro.fm in support of your local independent bookseller, is marvelously narrated by Justine Eyre.
*Alan Palmer, Bernadotte: Napoleon’s Marshal, Sweden’s King (London: John Murray, 1990), p. 176.
I received a paper review copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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Love historical books. Sounds like a great read. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI love everything Napoleon Bonaparte related, and also happen to be a francophile..I have wanted this book since Kathy Lee Gifford advertised it on IG!
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