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Desiree: The Bestselling Story of Napoleon's First Love

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Desiree: The Bestselling Story of Napoleon's First Love

By: Annemarie Selinko
Narrated by: Nicole Quinn
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About this listen

To be young, in France, and in love....

Fourteen-year-old Desiree can't believe her good fortune. Her fiance, the dashing and ambitious Napoleon Bonaparte, is poised for battlefield success, and no longer will she be just a French merchant's daughter. She could not have known the twisting path her role in history would take, nearly breaking her vibrant heart but sweeping her to a life rich in passion and desire.

A love story, but so much more, Desiree explores the landscape of a young heart torn in two, giving listeners a compelling true story of an ordinary girl whose unlikely brush with history leads to a throne no one would have expected.

An epic best seller that has earned both critical acclaim and mass adoration, Desiree is at once a novel of the rise and fall of empires, the blush and fade of love, and the heart and soul of a woman.

©1953 Annemarie Selinko (P)2012 Nicole Quinn Historical Fiction Heartfelt Inspiring

Critic Reviews

"An epic love story...irresistible reading." ( Chicago Tribune)
"This is a fascinating panorama, from the blood-and-sawdust reek of Robespierre's guillotine to the final collapse of the Hundred Days." ( New York Times)
“Presented as a series of diary entries over the course of her eventful life, Désirée's story not only sheds light on the life of a fascinating woman but also captures in haunting detail some of the century's most extraordinary personalities. Quinn admirably captures Désirée's unique voice at each stage of her life, from teenage petulance and crushing heartbreak to the confident tones of her eventual rise to royalty in the heyday of Napoleon's reign.” ( AudioFile)

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Desiree

I enjoyed listening to the story just as much as when I first read it nearly forty years ago. One of the books that encouraged me to read more actual history. Had I had a daughter she would have been called Eugene. However I only had boys.

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Hard to keep focused

I really struggled with this book but kept on listening because of the history, I wanted to finish listening before I made a judgement and have to say I would not recommend this book.

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