The Second Empress
Read The Second Empress Online
Authors: Michelle Moran
ALSO BY MICHELLE MORAN
Nefertiti
The Heretic Queen
Cleopatra’s Daughter
Madame Tussaud
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Copyright © 2012 by Michelle Moran
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crown Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
CROWN and the Crown colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Moran, Michelle.
The second empress : a novel of Napoleon’s court / Michelle Moran.—1st ed.
p. cm.
1. Young women—France—History—19th century—Fiction. 2. Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769–1821—Fiction. 3. France—Court and courtiers—History—19th century—Fiction.
I. Title.
PS3613.O682S43 2012
813′.6—dc23 2012017691
eISBN: 978-0-307-95305-6
Jacket design by Megan McLaughlin
Jacket photograph: Richard Jenkins Photography
v3.1
Contents
Letter Written by Napoleon to His Brother
Chapter 1 - Maria Lucia, Archduchess of Austria
Chapter 2 - Pauline Bonaparte, Princess Borghese
Chapter 3 - Paul Moreau, Chamberlain
Chapter 4 - Maria Lucia, Archduchess of Austria
Chapter 5 - Pauline Bonaparte, Princess Borghese
Chapter 6 - Paul Moreau
Chapter 7 - Marie-Louise, Empress of France
Chapter 8 - Pauline Borghese
Chapter 9 - Paul Moreau
Chapter 10 - Marie-Louise, Empress of France
Chapter 11 - Pauline Borghese
Chapter 12 - Paul Moreau
Chapter 13 - Marie-Louise
Chapter 14 - Pauline Borghese
Chapter 15 - Paul Moreau
Chapter 16 - Marie-Louise
Chapter 17 - Pauline Borghese
Chapter 18 - Paul Moreau
Chapter 19 - Marie-Louise
Chapter 20 - Pauline Borghese
Chapter 21 - Paul Moreau
Chapter 22 - Marie-Louise
Chapter 23 - Pauline Borghese
Chapter 24 - Paul Moreau
Chapter 25 - Marie-Louise
Chapter 26 - Pauline Borghese
Chapter 27 - Paul Moreau
Chapter 28 - Marie-Louise
Chapter 29 - Pauline Borghese
Chapter 30 - Paul Moreau
Chapter 31 - Marie-Louise
Chapter 32 - Pauline Borghese
Chapter 33 - Paul Moreau
Chapter 34 - Maria Lucia, Duchess of Parma
Chapter 35 - Pauline Borghese
Chapter 36 - Paul Moreau
Chapter 37 - Maria Lucia
Epilogue - Marie-Louise, Duchess of Parma
“
My family have done me far more harm than I have done them good
.”
—N
APOLEON
B
ONAPARTE
Cairo, July 25, 1798
You will see in the newspapers the result of our battles and the conquest of Egypt, where we found resistance enough to add a leaf to the laurels of this army
.
Egypt is the richest country in the world for wheat, rice, pulse, and meal. Nothing can be more barbarous. There is no money, even to pay the troops. I may be in France in two months. I recommend my interests to you
.
I have much domestic distress
.
Your friendship is very dear to me. To become a misanthropist I have only to lose it, and find that you betray me. That every different feeling toward the same person should be united in one heart is very painful
.
Let me have on my arrival a villa near Paris or in Burgundy. I intend to shut myself up there for the winter. I am tired of human nature. I want solitude and isolation. Greatness fatigues me; feeling is dried up. At twenty-nine, glory has become flat. I have exhausted everything. I have no refuge but pure selfishness. I shall retain my house and let no one else occupy it
.
Adieu, my only friend. I have never been unjust to you, as you must admit, though I may have wished to be so. You understand me. Love to your wife and to Jérôme
.
Nap
.
A letter written by Napoleon to his brother, acknowledging acceptance of his beloved wife Joséphine’s infidelity. The private correspondence was captured by the British and published in the
Morning Chronicle
.
C
HAPTER
1
