Betsy and the Emperor

After Napoleon was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, he was sent into exile on Saint Helena—reduced from the most powerful figure in Europe to a prisoner on a rock in the South Atlantic. But the fallen emperor was charmed by the pretty teenage daughter of a local merchant, Betsy Balcombe. Anne Whitehead brings to life Napoleon's last years on Saint Helena, revealing the central role of the Balcombe family. She also lays to rest two centuries of speculation about Betsy's relationship with Napoleon. With her extraordinary connections to royalty and high society, Betsy Balcombe led a life worthy of a Regency romance, but she was always fighting for her independence. This account reveals Napoleon at his most vulnerable and reflective, and a woman caught in some of the most dramatic events of her time.

Anne Whitehead is the author of Bluestocking in Patagonia and Paradise Mislaid, which was winner of the NSW Premier's Award for Australian History.