Now also available as an audiobook
Narrated by Mary Jane Wells, exclusively at audible.com
Charlotte Knipe
This drawing of a girl titled Rosebud (bouton de rose) has been floating around the internet and was brought to my attention by Albert Benhamou on his website http://www.lautresaintehelene.com/other-st-helena-index.html The costume seems to be contemporary and the hands are on show –Charlotte Knipe was known for her beautiful hands. Also the caption is in English and French which may mean something. If anyone knows anything about this sketch or has knowledge of other Rosebud pictures please let me know! Humknipe@gmail.com
Click through gallery
It all started when…
You are the high spirited 19-year-old daughter of a penniless widow, born and brought up on an isolated, windswept South Atlantic island, a girl with virtually no prospects, when out of the blue the most famous man on earth falls into your lap.
Still smarting from his defeat at Waterloo, still the hero of Liberals everywhere, Napoleon has been exiled to tiny Saint Helena because it is the remotest and most easily defended island in the British Empire. But far from being broken by defeat, Napoleon’s fertile imagination seethes with escape schemes. He meets you on his first evening on the island and instantly knows he has found what he is looking for: someone to set him free.
“Waaaay over the top, in the most delightful of ways! The writing is top notch fun; it’s a tight 7 hours and 40 minutes, nothing wasted, and no extra fluff and filler. ”
The iconic painting by Sir William Quiller Orchardson of Napoleon on his way to Saint Helena watched from a respectful distance by French officers who have chosen to share his exile with him.