Annemarie Selinko - Desiree

"On Napoleon's desk there was a death sentence waiting to be signed, and I was going to say to him - well, what was I going to say to him? One could no longer talk to him as one talks to ordinary people..."
All the passions and intrigues of Bonaparte's court are seen through the eyes of the merchant's daughter from Marseilles, a young woman who became Napoleon's fiancee and ultimately, the Queen of Sweden.