Pauline Bonaparte, Napoleon's sister, was once hailed as the most beautiful woman in all of Europe. Married to the Italian Prince Camillo Borghese, a union as much of passion as of state, Pauline drove the jealous Camillo wild, and away for most of their marriage, with her infidelities and indiscretions. Their stormy love affair is seen through the eyes of Sophie, Pauline's surrogate daughter. Pauline and Camillo's tempestuous coupling is all the more interesting for its basis in fact, offering a thrilling romance with a Napoleonic backdrop. Borghese's first novel, writing about his ancestors, is a labor of love, and he resists the genre convention that passion leads to a lasting happy marriage. Pauline is a spitfire of a heroine--flawed, petulant, extremely unlikable, and mesmerizing. Throughout, the most compelling evolution is Sophie's as she, like the reader, moves from being enamored with Pauline to disenchanted, but incapable of leaving her. (Dec.)
Borghese’s first novel, writing about his ancestors, is a labor of love ... Pauline is a spitfire of a heroine—flawed, petulant, extremely unlikable, and mesmerizing. Throughout, the most compelling evolution is Sophie’s as she, like the reader, moves from being enamored with Pauline to disenchanted, but incapable of leaving her.” — Publishers Weekly
“A readable, racy romp.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Historical fiction fans with an intense interest in Bonaparte lore will be intrigued by this account” — Library Journal
Borghese, perhaps known for an appearance on The Bachelor, debuts with a novel inspired by his famous lineage. Prince Camillo Borghese has doubts about marrying the widow Pauline Bonaparte Leclerc when the match is proposed in Paris in 1803. Yet her stunning beauty plus the political advantage of marriage to Napoléon's sister allay his concerns. Pauline's uninhibited sexuality surprises and tantalizes but ultimately disgraces him. Her extravagance, hypochondria, and numerous affairs lead to clashes with Camillo; reconciliations lead to the bedroom. The one constant in Pauline's life is her ward, Sophie, who adores her and remains her companion after Camillo's patience is exhausted. During the couple's 15-year separation, Pauline stays with Napoléon in exile. Readers meet Pauline again as she is dying, when Sophie convinces Camillo to allow her to return. Although Napoléon never appears directly, his commands and prohibitions figure prominently in the plot, from appointing Camillo to military posts to forbidding Pauline to return to France. VERDICT Readers may not find the author's Borghese ancestors as fascinating as he does. However, historical fiction fans with an intense interest in Bonaparte lore will be intrigued by this account.—Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State Univ. Lib., Mankato
A sympathetic, even laudatory biography of the sixth wife of Henry VIII.
Porter (The First Queen of England: The Myth of "Bloody Mary", 2008) offers a favorable treatment of Katherine Parr (1512–1548), crediting her even with the glories of the Elizabethan Age. According to the author, she was attractive, clever and religious, and was a wonderful surrogate mother for Mary Tudor and a loving spouse four times (thrice widowed). Porter follows the scant material available on her subject and provides some fresh interpretations of her nature and behavior, writing that Katherine grew to love Henry, despite his profound physical odiousness, irascibility and roving eye. The author begins at a moment of discomfort for Katherine in 1547—the day of Henry's death, when the court was keeping the news from her and from the rest of the country. She was uncertain of her standing with the king and, perhaps, worried for her life. Then the narrative retreats for Parr family history. Katherine was born into her influential family sometime in 1512, but precious little is known of her girlhood. In her midteens, she married her first husband, who died a few years later. Her second husband, Baron Latimer, who was twice her age, got caught up in the Pilgrimage of Grace but escaped the fatal fate of some of his more zealous companions. After his death, Henry VIII, having beheaded Katherine Howard, married Parr and seemed happy. Porter believes that Parr annoyed him only when she found, through her publishing, some fame for herself.
A rich narrative, but generous to a fault.
