The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte

2014 Chaucer Historical Fiction Contest: First place in Turn of the Nineteenth Century


"Tell the emperor that Madame Bonaparte is ambitious and demands her rights as a member of the imperial family."



As a clever girl in stodgy, mercantile Baltimore, Betsy Patterson dreams of a marriage that will transport her to cultured Europe. When she falls in love with and marries Jerome Bonaparte, she believes her dream has come true--until Jerome's older brother Napoleon becomes an implacable enemy.



Based on a true story, The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte is a historical novel that portrays this woman's tumultuous life. Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte, known to history as Betsy Bonaparte, scandalized Washington with her daring French fashions; visited Niagara Falls when it was an unsettled wilderness; survived a shipwreck and run-ins with British and French warships; dined with presidents and danced with dukes; and lived through the 1814 Battle of Baltimore. Yet through it all, Betsy never lost sight of her primary goal--to win recognition of her marriage.