About the Book:

Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe is the much-awaited sequel to Sandra Gulland’s highly acclaimed first novel, The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. Beginning in Paris in 1796, the saga continues as Josephine awakens to her new life as Mrs. Napoleon Bonaparte. Through her intimate diary entries and Napoleon’s impassioned love letters, an astonishing portrait of an incredible woman emerges. Gulland transports us into the ballrooms and bedrooms of exquisite palaces and onto the blood-soaked fields of Napoleon’s campaigns. As Napoleon marches to power, we witness, through Josephine, the political intrigues and personal betrayals — both sexual and psychological — that result in death, ruin, and victory for those closest to her.

Book Review:  ★★★★★★

This installment of this series didn’t carry quite the impact I was expecting, following the first in the trilogy.  That is not to say it was a bad read — it just seemed to be missing something in intensity in comparison.  This installment covers from Josephine’s first meeting with the upcoming, and awkward young Napoleon through their marriage and his first campaigns in Egypt.  It culminates in his return to France on the eve of Revolution.

I think one of the things I didn’t like about this book was that it seemed to be more dependent on the social connections in high French society than the first one did.  Josephine spends much more time putting on airs, and trying to maintain her place in society than she does actually moving the story along.  I just felt like this woman, who went through so much, and fought so hard for her life and her children in the first book, just seemed to drift into complacency and social snobbery in this sequel.  Somehow, it just seemed out of character for her.  And while it did accomplish much good — in that she works very hard to repatriate many of those that had fallen from grace and were now living in exile — it still seems to be contrived.  Combine that with many of her socialite friends, and their antics and you start to wonder what kind of company this woman is keeping.

The relationship with Napoleon, however, was an interesting, if somewhat bizarre twist in the story.  Combine one headstrong woman, and a very idiosyncratic man — not to mention the center of military headquarters of one of the most intuitive generals to have ever lived — and you come away wondering how this marriage will ever survive.  Everything from their bizarre financial arrangement, to Napoleon’s almost draconian expectations of Josephine and you really have the makings of a relationship that is both dysfunctional and powerful all at the same time.  The character of Napoleon is exactly what I expected him to be — eccentric, egotistical, at times maniacal, narcissistic and more.  As a reader I came away wondering how this “odd little man” ever rose to become the military powerhouse he did.

Gulland does excel in presenting the volatility of the French society during this rapidly shifting time in history.  The reader finds they are very aware of the pitfalls and powder keg that has been lit under this unstable government.  The class structures are being redrawn, and the corruption that followed in the wake of the earlier revolutionary movement certainly takes center stage in this follow up novel.  But even this volatility within the society does not carry the same impact that was evident in the first novel of the trilogy.  It is much more subtle, and at times almost cliche — and I came away wondering if this is what it was really like — or if there is quite a bit of artistic license taken in this book, to fill in the lag time between the fall of one king, and the rise of a dictator.   But overall, as a bridge between these two governmental types, this book does serve the purpose, and Gulland continues to demonstrate her excellence in her understanding of the time she is writing about.

Tags: France, Government, Historical Fiction, Josephine Bonaparte, Napoleon, Romance

Category: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Politics, Romance