Book review: "The Second Empress," by Michelle Moran

Elmhurst Public Library is a treasure trove at the center of our city. Next week, among the brand new books on the first floor or among the two hotcopies stands as you walk upstairs, you will find this very interesting historical novel on Napoleon.

It is written by an excellent novelist who does a very serious background job before taking up her pen.

Here is what I have to say after reading it:

The Second Empress: A Novel of Napoleon’s Court

by Michelle MORAN
320 pages
Publication date: by Crown, on Aug. 14th 2012

How exciting to present you Michelle Moran’s brand new book, The Second Empress, even before publication date!

Since Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution, I am a great fan of Michelle Moran. Even though I thought this book was not as fantastic as Madame Tussaud, it is still very good.

Moran, as usual, does her homework. It shows here, as she inserts many excerpts of letters by her characters, mostly Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and his first wife, Joséphine, and manages to draw an interesting portrait of the imperial couples. We get to know what happened between Napoleon and Joséphine, and then more depth between Napoléon and Marie-Louise, as major episodes of European history develop: Napoleon’s overwhelming power over many nations, followed by his quick fall after his trying to invade Russia, ending in a total disaster.

The chapters and events are presented, in turn, by three narrators: Marie-Louise, his very reluctant second wife from Austria; Pauline, his sister, full of jealousy, just as ambitious as him and as sex-oriented as him (they may even have had some incestuous relationships) and maybe more insane; and Paul Moreau, Pauline’s Haitian servant for 13 years.

I liked this triple perspective, especially by characters who are not often considered as central, such as Paul. This was actually really smart to have Paul as close witness to Napoleon’s last six years. Paul is a native from Haiti, and Haiti was always a painful memory to Napoleon for what he did there.

Marie-Louise’s sacrifice is beautifully rendered. As her great-aunt Marie-Antoinette, she has to leave her lover and the Austrian court for a country she does not know. She hates the idea of being married to Napoleon of ill-fame, but does it uniquely to save her country and her father’s position.

As for Pauline, she is portrayed as insanely in love with Egypt and pushing her brother to try to reach to the eternal grandeur of its pharaohs, hoping of course to share the same fame. She is very sick in her body and her mind.

Through Moran’s narrative, you get a good image of what’s going on. Napoleon is shown in all the insanity of his thirst for power, ambition, but also for his love for his first wife. Unfortunately, she never gave him an heir, hence his second marriage.

His second wife is more like a useful tool for him, and she does produce an heir. While married to her, Napoleon still exchanges love messages with is first wife. From the first day she hears about Napoleon’s predicament while a teenager at the Austrian court, Marie-Louise abhors this prospective husband; once married to him, she is delighted when she sees him go away for his foreign campaigns. But she also needs to reign as regent during those times, and her being from Austria does not make her international affairs easy.

We follow her until the fall of the Napoleonic regime, during his exile and see her finally go back to Austria and marry the man she always loved after Napoleon passes away.

The only reproach I have for this book is that it could actually have been longer, with even more in-depth presentation of the characters. But it is still a very good book, and if you like French historical fiction, you really have to read it.

If you want to know more about this book, please go to my review on Words And Peace.