Quercus The Second Empress

a book about napoleons life ,about his second empress and the situation in europe at that tine,all written like a very good novel

This book is really the follow up to Madam Tussaud after the French Revolution as Napoleon is in power. This book is that rare combination of captivating writing enmeshed with a fascinating story. Now that is novel. As a reader I found that I was immediately engaged with the characters, found it comfortable to follow and I learned quite a bit about that time period in France and Austria.I loved this book so much that I actually bought it as a gift for a family member.Enjoy!

Had I read this book without any historical context, I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more. I found the Maria-Lucia's narrative voice compelling, and her sense of duty admirable. The author does a wonderful job of showing Paulette's slide from selfish to delusional, while the third POV of Paul gives us an outsider's view of Europeans.The story itself was engaging, though part of that was a hopefulness on my part for a twist (based on history) that never developed. When taken as a whole, the plot became predictable.That all said, the problem returns to historical context. As others more qualified than I have noted, primary sources paint a very different picture of the relationship between Napoleon and Maria-Lucia. Because of that, Napoleon becomes a predictable villain instead of the complex individual from history; and Maria-Lucia's role is magnified (in part because of a relationship that did not start until much later than the novel says).

3.5 stars. Good but not as much as the two first ones.

I think it's a good read but I would not rate it as good as the Egyptian series, I felt it would have been a good idea to say earlier in the book that the letters are in fact actual. As it was hard to understand what they were till I read at the back. Interesting story, and no doubt much of it was true.