A Rose For Virtue: Norah Lofts

The post-Revolution years saw a state of flux with the balance of power shifting back to the bourgeoisie. Napoleon's rise to power was meteoric and he is a successful young general when this book opens. Hortense Beauharnais finds life very different when he mother becomes Bonaparte's wife and she lives her life on the chessboard of the French court amid jealousy and greed. She is married off the Napoleon's brother but is in love with Charles de Flahaut, a gallant young officer. History, brought to life.