Napoleon and Josephine

Library Journal

Aronson's lifelong interest in Napoleon turns toward the French ruler's domestic life in this account of his marriage to Josephine de Beauharnais. Acknowledging that ``in almost every way, theirs was an attraction of opposites,'' the author notes that Napoleon saw his spouse as his lucky charm; as long as he was married to her, he believed, he could not fail. It was only after he divorced her--``for the future peace of France,'' he insisted--that his empire crumbled. The author of Royal Family (Salem House, 1986) has written history in the form of a romantic novel: it may read like fiction, but every fact is documented, each comment a direct quote from writings of the period. The style is simple and fluid, with only an occasional pedantic phrase, and Aronson artfully integrates quotes into a life story.-- Andrea Lee Shuey, Dallas P.L.