Search results for ""author geri walton""

Napoleon Bonaparte and Juliette Recamier were both highly influential and well-known in France, yet they were often at odds with each other. Their story played out on the European stage during a period of political upheaval and new political ideas. Napoleon gained power in the aftermath of the French Revolution, and he would go from spectacular victories to dismal failure. His defeat in the early nineteenth century would result in Europe acquiring new national borders and with that Britain, Russia, and the United States would gain greater international influence. Juliette, on the other hand, wielded her own power. Because of the tumultuous French Revolution, noble and aristocratic landowners were being replaced by a new wealthy class in the private sector. Juliette and her husband were among the beneficiaries of this growing affluence and influence, and her power came from her new-found position in society. Juliette also viewed life differently than Napoleon. She saw life from the standpoint of a wealthy socialite whereas Napoleon's desires were always shaded by his military experiences and his meteoric rise to power. Along the way, Juliette would have to face the testy Emperor, and she would find that his own brother would fall for her. Even some of Napoleon's greatest enemies would woo her.

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Eliza de Feuillide seemed fascinating and outlandish to her cousins in rural eighteen century England. When she visited their village, her appearance was electrifying. She was an attractive, accomplished French countess with a vivacious personality who inspired their imaginations and regaled them with stories of life in London and Paris where she hobnobbed with French nobility and wore the latest fashions. One of these impressionable younger cousins would find Eliza's stories so fascinating that she would incorporate elements of Eliza's life into some of the most famous novels in English literature. This cousin was Jane Austen. Yet Eliza's life was not as glamorous as Jane or her Austen cousins might have thought. She faced many tragedies in her life that wealth and social class could not protect her against. She was also forced to adapt and re-examine her priorities in a way that would dramatically change her life choices and result in a more sedate lifestyle. Read about the perseverance and courage of the real person behind several fictional characters in Jane Austen's writings and novels and the deeper connection Eliza had to the Austen family.

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Marie Antoinette has always fascinated readers worldwide. Yet perhaps no one knew her better than one of her closest confidantes, Marie Thrse, the Princess de Lamballe. The Princess became superintendent of the Queens household in 1774, and through her relationship with Marie Antoinette, a unique perspective of the lavishness and daily intrigue at Versailles is exposed. Born into the famous House of Savoy in Turin, Italy, Marie Thrse was married at the age of seventeen to the Prince de Lamballe; heir to one of the richest fortunes in France. He transported her to the gold-leafed and glittering chandeliered halls of the Chteau de Versailles, where she soon found herself immersed in the political and sexual scandals that surrounded the royal court. As the plotters and planners of Versailles sought, at all costs, to gain the favour of Louis XVI and his Queen, the Princess de Lamballe was there to witness it all. This book reveals the Princess de Lamballes version of these events and is based on a wide variety of historical sources, helping to capture the waning days and grisly demise of the French monarchy. The story immerses you in a world of titillating sexual rumours, blood-thirsty revolutionaries, and hair-raising escape attempts and is a must read for anyone interested in Marie Antoinette, the origins of the French Revolution, or life in the late 18th Century.

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