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Title details for Wondrous Beauty by Carol Berkin - Available

Wondrous Beauty

The Life and Adventures of Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte

by Carol Berkin
Tara Hugo
Audiobook
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From the award-winning historian: the remarkable life of "the most beautiful woman of nineteenth-century Baltimore," whose marriage in 1803 to JErome Bonaparte, the youngest brother of Napoleon, became inextricably bound to the diplomatic and political nineteenth-century histories of the United States, France, and England. From the author of Revolutionary Mothers ("Incisive, thoughtful, spiced with vivid anecdotes. Don't miss it."-Thomas Fleming) and Civil War Wives ("Utterly freshSensitive, poignant, thoroughly fascinating."-Jay Winik). In Wondrous Beauty, Carol Berkin tells the story of this audacious, outsize life: how her romantic, passionate marriage infuriated Napoleon and resulted in his banning the then-pregnant Betsy Bonaparte from disembarking in any European port, demanding that his brother either lose all power and remain married to that "American girl"-or renounce her, marry a woman of Napoleon's choice, and reap the benefits. JErome ended the marriage and was made king of Westphalia; Betsy fled to England, and gave birth to her son and only child, JErome's namesake. Berkin writes how this naIve, headstrong American girl returned to Baltimore a cynical, independent woman, refusing to seek social redemption and return to obscurity through a quiet marriage to a member of Baltimore's merchant class; how she disdained America's obsession with money-making, its growing ethos of democracy, and the rigid gender roles that confined women to the parlor and the nursery, and sought a European society where women created salons devoted to intellectual life and where traditions of aristocracy dominated society; and, we see how as a shrewd investor she transformed a modest pension from the French government into a fortune that rivaled many a (male) financier.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    March 11, 2014

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781490613086
      • File size: 211135 KB
      • Duration: 07:19:51

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      September 15, 2014

      Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte (1785-1879) was a curiosity. An American from Baltimore, she married the youngest brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. The marriage, which did not last long, won her instant and lifelong notoriety. Napoleon banned her from Europe and rewarded his brother with the kingship of Westphalia for divorcing her. Elizabeth fled to London, where she gave birth to a son. She then returned to Baltimore, sought and won a pension from the French government, and concerned herself with intellectualism. Despite the great challenges she faced in her personal life and from the oppressive, patriarchal society, Elizabeth achieved something so few women were able to achieve in the 19th century: independence. Narrator Tara Hugo brings the 19th century to life and is especially convincing as the voice of Elizabeth. VERDICT Berkin's (Civil War Wives) latest is recommended for history lovers, particularly those with an interest in the Napoleonic era as well as anyone who enjoys biographies of strong, independent women.--Denis Frias, Mississauga Lib. Syst., Ont.

      Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      November 11, 2013
      Ambitious, tenacious, calculating, and intent on building a family empire—teenaged Betsy Patterson shared these traits with her brother-in-law, Napoleon Bonaparte, even as he disavowed her marriage to his underage younger brother, Jerome, and left her with an uncertain marital status as well as a young son who resembled the French emperor. With an easy, empathetic style, Berkin (Revolutionary Mothers) follows Betsy from her frivolous youth in post-colonial Baltimore through her devolution from a sparkling ingénue to a popular and witty European party guest into lonely spinsterhood, eschewing romantic love or compassion as she continued to sue her erstwhile in-laws decades after her brief marriage ended. Financially secure due to her own shrewd investments in stocks and real estate, she desperately sought to return first her son, and then grandson, to the heights of European nobility, regardless of their own wishes. In this engaging, quick-reading account, Betsy’s little-remembered story exposes tensions between the Bonapartes while also revealing the fragility of her native country as her predicament briefly threatened diplomatic incidents in three countries while upsetting moral and patriotic purists in the process.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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