The Emperor's Last Island PDF Download

Author: Julia Blackburn
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1448161789
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
The Emperor's Last Stand is a book about St Helena, an island with a sad, strange history, and about the tangle of stories and myths, absurdities and simple facts that have accumulated around Napoleon and his sojourn here. It follows him through the eyes of those who lived with him, who guarded him, who managed only to catch a brief glimpse of him, alive or dead. It is also a personal account: a description of Julia Blackburn's own journey to St Helena and at the same time a journey through the private memories and associations evoked by the telling of this poignant and curious story.

Author: Thomas Keneally
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1473625343
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 662

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Book Description
On the island of St Helena in the south Atlantic ocean, Napoleon spends his last years in exile. It is a hotbed of gossip and secret liaisons, where a blind eye is turned to relations between colonials and slaves. The disgraced emperor is subjected to vicious and petty treatment by his captors, but he forges an unexpected ally: a rebellious British girl, Betsy, who lives on the island with her family and becomes his unlikely friend. Based on fact, Napoleon's Last Island is the surprising story of one of history's most enigmatic figures and a British family who dared to associate with him. It is a tale of vengeance, duplicity and loyalty, and of a man whose charisma made him dangerous to the end.

Author: Julia Blackburn
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307829227
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
In 1814 Napoleon Bonaparte arrived on St. Helena for a surreal exile that would last until his death six years later. • "Dazzling... a compelling meditation on Napoleon's exile...Blackburn has brought her startlingly imaginative sensitivity to bear on a vanished time."—The New York Times Book Review “A resonant meditation on exile, fame, the stories we tell about ourselves (and) the bigger stories we tell about our great figures.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review

Author: Brian Unwin
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0857717332
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
At its height, the Napoleonic Empire spanned much of mainland Europe. Feted and feared by millions of citizens, Napoleon was the most powerful and famous man of his age. But following his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo the future of the one-time Emperor of France seemed irredeemably bleak. How did the brilliant tactician cope with being at the mercy of his captors? How did he react to a life in exile on St Helena - and how did the other inhabitants of that isolated and impregnable island respond to his presence there? And what tactics did he develop to preserve his legacy in such drastically reduced circumstances? Tracing events from the dramatic defeat at Waterloo to his death six years later, this is the first modern comprehensive account of the last phase of Napoleon's life. Drawing on many previously overlooked journals and letters, Brian Unwin has pieced together a remarkably vivid account of Napoleon's final years which also offers fresh insights into the character of this giant of European history. Through his initial flight from the battlefield and his journey into exile on St Helena, Napoleon refused to accept that he would not be allowed to return to somewhere in Europe or even America. He railed against every aspect of his imprisonment and conspired to make life as difficult as possible for his unfortunate jailer, Hudson Lowe, whose impossible situation is sympathetically described here. Confined with him in the damp and confined Longwood House, life was also uncomfortable for those loyal companions who chose to journey with him into exile. Unsurprisingly for such a man of action, Napoleon bitterly resented being under constant supervision when he ventured outside his house and suffered acutely from boredom as much as from his physical ailments. Contrary to the strict wishes of the English he refused to accept any diminution in his status: 'Je ne suis pas le General Bonaparte, je suis L'Empereur Napoleon.' But gradually Napoleon came to think less about escape and more about how he would be remembered by future generations, spending hour after hour dictating the story of his campaigns to Count Las Cases, the companion who had travelled with him chiefly to act as his amanuensis. Terrible Exile brilliantly evokes the claustrophobic atmosphere of life on St Helena, offering a colourful and original history of the period as well as a persuasive psychological portrait of a great man in reduced circumstances. It will be essential reading for anyone with an interest in Napoleonic history and is an important addition to our understanding of the subject.

Author: Staton Rabin
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439115877
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
"Think, my dear -- just think what it will be like, to be known as the girl who freed the great Napoleon Bonaparte!" Fourteen-year-old English girl Betsy Balcombe and her family have a most unusual house guest: Napoleon Bonaparte, former emperor of France and the most feared man on earth. Once lord and master to eighty-two million souls, now in 1815, Napoleon is a captive of the British people. Stripped of his empire and robbed of his young family and freedom, he is confined to the forbidding, rat-infested island of St. Helena, where a cruel jailer and more than two thousand British troops guard his every move. The one bright star in Napoleon's black sky is Betsy, a blazingly rebellious teenager whose family is reluctantly housing the notorious prisoner. Betsy is the only foreigner Napoleon's ever met who is not impressed by him and doesn't tremble at the sight of him -- and Napoleon is more than intrigued. After fits and starts, a most remarkable friendship develops between Betsy and the emperor -- a friendship that transcends age and politics. As Betsy develops from a gangly, tomboyish girl to a blossoming young woman, this unexpected and wonderful alliance survives inevitable gossip and growing pains, giving Betsy the courage to pursue her dreams -- and Napoleon the courage to face his dark future. It also inspires Betsy to hatch a daring and dangerous plan on Napoleon's behalf, a scheme that could threaten both of their lives and shake entire empires to their foundations. Based on true events, Staton Rabin's story blends humor, adventure, and poignant drama, vividly revealing new insights into the heart and mind of one of the most towering, fascinating historical figures of our time -- and tells a tale of hope and bravery that will inspire readers to their own heights of courage.

Author: Mark Braude
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0735222622
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 386

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Book Description
A gripping narrative history of Napoleon Bonaparte's ten-month exile on the Mediterranean island of Elba In the spring of 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated. Having overseen an empire spanning half the European continent and governed the lives of some eighty million people, he suddenly found himself exiled to Elba, less than a hundred square miles of territory. This would have been the end of him, if Europe's rulers had had their way. But soon enough Napoleon imposed his preternatural charisma and historic ambition on both his captors and the very island itself, plotting his return to France and to power. After ten months of exile, he escaped Elba with just of over a thousand supporters in tow, marched to Paris, and retook the Tuileries Palace--all without firing a shot. Not long after, tens of thousands of people would die fighting for and against him at Waterloo. Braude dramatizes this strange exile and improbable escape in granular detail and with novelistic relish, offering sharp new insights into a largely overlooked moment. He details a terrific cast of secondary characters, including Napoleon's tragically-noble official British minder on Elba, Neil Campbell, forever disgraced for having let "Boney" slip away; and his young second wife, Marie Louise who was twenty-two to Napoleon's forty-four, at the time of his abdication. What emerges is a surprising new perspective on one of history's most consequential figures, which both subverts and celebrates his legendary persona.

Author: Anne Whitehead
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 1760112933
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 482

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Book Description
After Napoleon was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, he was sent into exile on Saint Helena. He became an 'eagle in a cage', 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. After Napoleon's death, Betsy travelled to Australia in 1823 with her father, who was appointed the first Colonial Treasurer of New South Wales. When the family lost their fortune, she returned to London and published a memoir that made her a celebrity. 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 new account reveals Napoleon at his most vulnerable, human and reflective, and a woman caught in some of the most dramatic events of her time. 'Anne Whitehead deftly weaves a lively, poignant tale of Napoleon's last years on St Helena and the precocious teenager whose impudent charm briefly enlivened his exile. Her indefatigable pursuit of a tantalising archival trail takes her readers from St Helena to England, Scotland, France and New South Wales, uncovering a life curiously shadowed by its early brush with fame.' - Professor Penny Russell, University of Sydney

Author: Tim Wynne-Jones
Publisher: Candlewick Press
ISBN: 0763694428
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
When Evan's father dies suddenly, he finds the book his father had been reading, a diary of a Japanese soldier stranded on a Pacific Island during World War II. There was also an American soldier stranded there.

Author: Graham Salisbury
Publisher: Ember
ISBN: 0385386567
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
Eddy Okubo lies about his age and joins the army in his hometown of Honolulu only weeks before the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. Suddenly Americans see him as the enemy—even the U.S. Army doubts the loyalty of Japanese American soldiers. Then the army sends Eddy and a small band of Japanese American soldiers on a secret mission to a small island off the coast of Mississippi. Here they are given a special job, one that only they can do. Eddy’s going to help train attack dogs. He’s going to be the bait.

Author: Lian Hearn
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 0733635148
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
The first instalment in a magnificent epic by the creator of the global phenomenon the TALES OF THE Otori, Lian Hearn, whose books have sold over four million copies worldwide An ambitious warlord leaves his nephew for dead and seizes his lands. A stubborn father forces his younger son to surrender his wife to his older brother. A mysterious woman seeks five fathers for her children. A powerful priest meddles in the succession to the Lotus Throne. These are the threads of an intricate tapestry in which the laws of destiny play out against a backdrop of wild forest, elegant court, and savage battlefield. Set in a mythical medieval Japan inhabited by warriors and assassins, ghosts and guardian spirits, Emperor of the Eight Islands by Lian Hearn is a brilliantly imagined novel, full of drama and intrigue - the beginning of an enthralling, epic adventure: The Tale of Shikanoko. 'Brutally thrilling historical fantasy' Herald Sun 'Wildly successful... Convince[s] as if being read in translation, as if Hearn is merely the medium for some lost and ancient text. Much like Game of Thrones, the book can be read as political intrigue, with great strength deriving from the character studies. Nobody is black or white, rather shades of grey' The Age 'Moves onwards with the narrative force of a flood. It is easy to let the book sweep the reader away, to engage with strange events... very compelling characters [and] huge imaginative vitality' Sydney Morning Herald 'The action comes thick and fast . . . Compelling characters and captivating worldbuilding' Japan Times 'A must-read' Aurealis 'One of the great joys of genre novels is that they usually care deeply about plot, satisfying the innately human desire for story. And there is story aplenty here. The unfolding events are so fascinating, the writing so lithe and seductive. There's no need to have read Hearn's earlier Otori series, set in the same remarkable fantasy world, to enjoy this one. Indeed, her new epic seems sure to recruit a fresh legion of fans' The Saturday Paper 'Stands alone for fine storytelling' West Australian 'Colourful and fascinating characters' Courier Mail Available now LORD OF THE DARKWOOD: Books 3 and 4 in THE TALE OF SHIKANOKO. Don't miss any of the novels in the OTORI saga ACROSS THE NIGHTINGALE FLOOR GRASS FOR HIS PILLOW BRILLIANCE OF THE MOON THE HARSH CRY OF THE HERON HEAVEN'S NET IS WIDE