A sweeping novel about the extraordinary woman who captured Napoleon’s heart, created a dynasty, and changed the course of history—from the New York Times bestselling author of The Traitor’s Wife, The Accidental Empress, and Sisi. As the French revolution ravages the country, Desiree Clary is faced with the life-altering truth that the world she has known and loved is gone and it’s fallen on her … and loved is gone and it’s fallen on her to save her family from the guillotine.
A chance encounter with Napoleon Bonaparte, the ambitious and charismatic young military prodigy, provides her answer. When her beloved sister Julie marries his brother Joseph, Desiree and Napoleon’s futures become irrevocably linked. Quickly entering into their own passionate, dizzying courtship that leads to a secret engagement, they vow to meet in the capital once his career has been secured. But her newly laid plans with Napoleon turn to sudden heartbreak, thanks to the rising star of Parisian society, Josephine de Beauharnais. Once again, Desiree’s life is turned on its head.
Swept to the glittering halls of the French capital, Desiree is plunged into the inner circle of the new ruling class, becoming further entangled with Napoleon, his family, and the new Empress. But her fortunes shift once again when she meets Napoleon’s confidant and star general, the indomitable Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte. As the two men in Desiree’s life become political rivals and military foes, the question that arises is: must she choose between the love of her new husband and the love of her nation and its Emperor?
From the lavish estates of the French Riviera to the raucous streets of Paris and Stockholm, Desiree finds herself at the epicenter of the rise and fall of an empire, navigating a constellation of political giants and dangerous, shifting alliances. Emerging from an impressionable girl into a fierce young woman, she discovers that to survive in this world she must learn to rely upon her instincts and her heart.
Allison Pataki’s meticulously researched and brilliantly imagined novel sweeps readers into the unbelievable life of a woman almost lost to history—a woman who, despite the swells of a stunning life and a tumultuous time, not only adapts and survives but, ultimately, reigns at the helm of a dynasty that outlasts an empire.
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Allison Pataki weaves a glittering spell around the mythical affair between Napoleon and Desiree. This enterprising young woman rose to the heights of glamour as Napoleon carved his path to power. Pataki imbues their fateful story with the yearning of a country reeling in the aftermath of a savage war and with the fierce heart of an ambitious girl who must survive at any cost.
Allison Pataki has done it again.
THE QUEEN’S FORTUNE is epic historical fiction at its finest. It takes well known history, but deepens and broadens it to encompass undiscovered gems and connections. Like fans of THE CROWN, readers will tack between story and search engine, seeking images and articles on the key players. The greatest tension is wishing to savor the story while racing to finish, and that exists throughout.
I give THE QUEEN’S FORTUNE my highest recommendation.
History, romance, and the dangerous intrigue of revolution combine to make coming of age a high-stakes game in Allison Pataki’s richly reimagined account of a woman seeking not only to manage her circumstances but to triumph over them and rise to the throne of a country that will become her own. This was a piece of history I knew very little about. Pataki’s latest effort brings a fascinating time and place fully to life.
Allison Pataki is a masterful historical author at the top of her game. From the very first lyrical lines of The Queen’s Fortune, I was wholly swept into the entrancing world of Desiree Clary Bernadotte. Painstaking research and page-turning prose placed me directly at the side of this remarkable yet lesser-known figure, journeying from innocent girlhood to seasoned royalty, a survivor of guillotine threats, palace politics, and strains of the heart. I absolutely loved this book from beginning to end.
I absolutely loved The Queen’s Fortune, the fascinating, little-known story of Desiree Clary — the woman Napoleon left for Josephine — who ultimately triumphed and became queen of Sweden.
In The Queen’s Fortune, Allison Pataki chronicles Desiree, the secret lover of Napoleon Bonaparte. When Napoleon chooses Josephine over her, the heartbroken Desiree finds herself entangled with Napoleon, Josephine and the new ruling class. Pataki deftly weaves a tangled web of passion, deception and intrigue, set against one of the most tumultuous periods in history, making for a heady cocktail which readers will devour.
I couldn’t put this down.
It’s not everyone who’s jilted by Napoleon and winds up queen of Sweden. Allison Pataki provides an intimate portrait of a tumultuous time — and of an ordinary woman who captivated two of the great men of her day and became the mother of a dynasty.
A very interesting look at the life of Desiree Clary, Napoleon’s first love. I really knew nothing about her or her history as Josephine is always the focus in any telling of Napoleon’s loves. I found the research well done and the story full developed. I liked the fact that you get to know more about her family and his. I would recommend this book for any fan of historical fiction and definitely fans of the aftermath of the French revolution.
This book brings to life one of the most fascinating eras in European history through a distinctive female lens: that of Desiree Clary, first love of Napoleon and later his sister-in-law, and wife of French Marshal Bernadotte who became the King of Sweden. In addition, Desiree became a friend and confidant of Josephine, Napoleon’s wife, and her portrait is one of the most heart-rending threads in this rich story. The history details are impeccable and the little-known characters brought to life intrigue and compell the reader’s interest.
The Queen’s Fortune by Allison Pataki is an amazing, epic, and thrilling historical fiction piece that tells the story of the very interesting woman, Desiree Clary Bernadotte.
I have to admit upfront that whe I know qyuite a bit of Russian and English history, I know less about French history. Ms Pataki is very talented in that she was able to weave together an amazing story of a woman that was involved with so many important moments in history, yet was under the radar for a majority of them. I absorbed every hard-fought and well-researched tidbit, devouring each page with fascination. This novel is clearly well-researched and written with a respect that should make any family proud.
I loved Desiree and because of Ms Pataki, I am searching for more on this fascinating woman of history, as well as addition information on the history of the rich nations of France and Sweden.
This novel is a triumph and I loved every breathtaking moment of it. A true gem. Ms Pataki has a great gift.
5/5 stars enthusiastically
The Queen’s Fortune, the newest book from author Allison Pataki carries readers from the earliest days of the French Revolution to the pomp and circumstance of Napoleon’s reign in France and finally to the last days of Desiree Clary, once the fiancée of Napoleon. From the quiet coast of southern France to the freezing temperatures of Sweden, we come to know Desiree and how her relationship with Napoleon influenced almost every moment of her life, beginning at age sixteen.
I knew very little of this time in history and welcomed the research that Pataki used to piece together Desiree’s life. Napoleon’s rise and subsequent fall fill the pages of The Queen’s Fortune, as does his relationship with Josephine, his empress and the woman he married in place of Desiree. The eventual friendship between Josephine and Desiree was surprising, but also showed Desiree’s compassion to a woman who wanted only the love of Napoleon and her (Desiree) loyalty to this same man through most of her life. I too enjoyed reading about Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, Desiree’s eventual husband, future King of Sweden, and a constant thorn in Napoleon’s side due to the tension between them, a result of their political differences and, more so, Desiree’s love and happiness with Bernadotte. Pataki also brings to life the palaces and manor homes of Paris that left this reader feeling like she was once again in the City of Lights.
A letter to readers from Pataki’s editor promises readers “…the chance to experience Desiree as a complex character who faced impossible choices…” and that Pataki’s mission is to give voice to significant women in history who haven’t had their full story told from their points of view. While the 400 plus pages of The Queen’s Fortune are told from Desiree’s engaging, if not isolated, point of view, I never saw her as a complex character, rather one that was compassionate and accepting of her lot in life. While she certainly faced impossible choices, she very rarely seemed to make the choices, rather it was the men in her life-most especially Napoleon-that maneuvered her to where she needed to be. She never seems to step outside of her wealthy lifestyle. She doesn’t do anything remarkable that causes her to standout. She was just Desiree.
The book begins when Desiree at eleven and shows a spirited girl, willing to break rules when she felt it necessary. Sadly, I didn’t see much of this young girl as the book progressed. Instead from the moment Desiree leaves Marseille she becomes more of observer of Napoleon and Josephine’s lives than her own. It was Josephine that emerged as the complex character through Desiree’s eyes. We learn of Josephine yearning to give Napoleon an heir. We hear the passionate arguments between Napoleon and Josephine. We see how much Josephine loves to garden in addition to her love of clothes and jewelry. At the book’s end it was Josephine that I mourned, rather than Desiree.
It wasn’t just a lack of complexity in Desiree that disappointed. While readers see Napoleon’s rise in power, we never get an insight into the French people, people who fought a revolution by brutally murdering any French royals, yet by the revolution’s end Napoleon was Emperor of France. As The Queen’s Fortune is told by Desiree we never meet the downtrodden people of France that were willing to fight and murder for equality. Instead, they end up in the same situation within 10 years. Clearly Napoleon was adept at charming his people, but readers only meet the Napoleon that ruled his closest advisors and generals by tantrums, leaving this reader scratching her head in bewilderment.
Overall, The Queen’s Fortune is engaging and informative. I frequently myself doing my own research Desiree, Napoleon, Josephine, and Bernadotte, which I always consider a sign of an interesting historical novel.
I received a copy of this book through Amazon Vine in exchange for an honest review.
A fascinating fictionalization of the life of Desiree Clary, whose life intertwined with those of Napoleon Bonaparte and his wife Josephine during their various victories and losses. Pataki draws you along, making the complicated, epic tale easy to follow, as she did with Empress Sisi and Peggy Shippen. Highly recommended.
I received early access to this book (scheduled for publication Feb 11, 2020) in exchange for writing an impartial review. I have read nearly all of Allison Pataki’s books and am a huge fan. This one however let me down. It’s not bad; just not up to the standard I’ve come to expect from this author.
What you have here is a truly fascinating character in Desiree Clary, a little known historical figure who survived France’s Reign of Terror, was briefly engaged to Napoleon Bonaparte, became an attendant to Empress Josephine, and wound up as Queen of Sweden. What Pataki tries to do is flesh out this woman’s remarkable life.
But while I agree that Desiree’s life and this historical period are captivating, the narrative didn’t quite hang together as it might have. Certainly there’s plenty of drama to keep you turning the pages. And it certainly begins well enough.
Desiree is a child at the start of the book, telling about her experiences of fear and hunger following the French Revolution. Chance brings her into the orbit of Bonaparte, a young, talented, and ambitious soldier with big dreams. He’s unlike anyone else and they become engaged. However, once Femme Fatale Josephine enters the picture, the book seems to shift from Desiree’s first-person viewpoint to that of Desiree as more of an observer, focusing on the story of Bonaparte and Josephine.
Theirs is certainly an interesting story. But for me, it’s much more interesting to read historical fiction directly from a participant. Less so when the story is told solely through one character’s observations of others. It’s as though we are suddenly one step removed from the action, with no opportunity for the kind of first hand information that, for example, you can “witness” when a married couple is speaking privately. And while Desiree is busy telling us about the Emperor and his wife, her own life gets much less attention, mostly sidelined.
Later, when Bonaparte begins to lose power, we again pick up Desiree’s own more direct story. But shortly thereafter, the narrative starts to skip big chunks of time as we suddenly fly from milestone to milestone in Desiree’s later life. For example, one chapter tells the story of her son’s marriage. The next picks up decades later when it’s time for her husband to die. Then, next section, it’s 16 years later still and Desiree is near death herself.
Since the story had been, up to this point, following events quite closely and sequentially, It suddenly felt to me like the narrative had segments dropped. Almost as though once Napoleon and Josephine disappeared, it was time to quickly close Desiree’s story. As though her story didn’t have sufficient merit of its own, once she was no longer in Napoleon’s orbit.
If you have an interest in Napoleonic history, you’ll want to read this one. He doesn’t come off as much of a hero. In fact he’s not very likable at all. Nor is Josephine. I just didn’t feel the book did justice to Desiree’s story. And that’s what Pataki said (in the Afterword) that she was trying to do.
Allison Pataki does it again! (but then, I think I say that with each of her books, they are all so good!).
Desiree Clary is an important part of Napoleon’s life. Perhaps she’s his first love, he’s certainly hers. She becomes engaged to him early in his career, but he moves on and dumps her as he becomes more and more powerful and marries Joséphine de Beauharnais . But Desiree is no shrinking violet, and when her sister marries Joseph, Napoleon’s brother, she can’t avoid Napoleon, although she tries. Eventually she falls in love with and marries Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte who eventually becomes King of Sweden. Desiree is a key player in these times; at once a rival of Empress Josephine but also a confidant and friend. She is a behind the scenes advisor to her husband and to many others, including her brother in law and a skilled navigator of the politically tenuous times. .
The Queen’s Fortune is a stunning portrait of the most extraordinary woman you never heard of. Wife, mother, political advisor, and queen, the story of Desiree is beyond amazing, from her engagement to Napoleon to her crowning as Queen of Sweden, Desiree is quietly influential across a politically fraught landscape. Her’s is a story that very well told in The Queen’s Fortune.
I love historical fiction. Allison Pataki has a way of bringing it to life and making you feel like you are right there in the story. This book is no different. I enjoyed reading about Napoleon, from his humble beginnings, all the way to his death. The author has done her research and has brilliantly composed a book that i could not put down. 5+ stars. This is a great read and teaches you some history as well. This author is always a must read for me.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
A new retellling of Desiree, which was a teen favorite of mine. Loved this book!
This book gave me the clearest picture of how insane Napoleon was. I was fascinated by the life he and his close family and friends were forced to live.
4 1/2 stars. Great historical fiction.
I knew very little about Napoleon and Josephine, nor had I read anything by Allison Pataki. I was not disappointed. “The Queen’s Fortune” focuses on the the lives of Napoleon and those surrounding him (his brother, mother and sisters, as well as Josephine). What makes the story so interesting is that Pataki tells it through the eyes/voice of Desiree Clary, Napoleon’s fiancé prior to meeting Josephine and also his sister-in-law’s sister. Pataki deftly handles the complicated relationships between the characters. She also manages to recount Napoleon’s numerous battles in a linear fashion without getting bogged down in too much detail. In short, I learned a lot from the book, I became engaged in the lives of the characters, and I was sorry to see it end. I look forward to reading more books written by this author.