From acclaimed biographer Flora Fraser, the brilliant life of Napoleon’s favorite sister. Celebrated for her looks, notorious for her passions, immortalized by Antonio Canova’s statue, and always deeply loyal to her brother, Pauline Bonaparte Borghese is a fascinating figure in her own right. At the turn of the nineteenth century, she was considered by many to be the most beautiful woman in Europe. She shocked the continent with the boldness of her love affairs, her opulent wardrobe and jewels, and, most famously, her decision to pose nearly nude for Canova’s sculpture, which has been replicated in countless ways through the years. But just as remarkable as Pauline’s private life was her fidelity to the emperor (if not to her husbands). She was present for Napoleon’s great victories in Italy, and she was often at Malmaison with her brother and her rival for his loyalty, the empress Josephine. When he was exiled to Elba, Pauline was the only sibling to follow him there, and after the final defeat at Waterloo she begged to be allowed to join him at Saint Helena. No biographer has gone so deeply into the sources or so closely examined one of the seminal relationships of the man who shaped modern Europe. In Pauline Bonaparte: Venus of Empire, Flora Fraser has cast new light on the Napoleonic era while crafting a dynamic, vivid portrait of a mesmerizing woman. Scarlet women of Regency England (The Unruly Queen: The Life of Queen Caroline, 1996) have inspired entertaining biographies from Fraser, who now crosses the Channel to survey the scandal-strewn stories about Princess Borghese, Napoléon’s youngest sister. Like her brother, Pauline battled her way through a society that condescended to her as a parvenu, but the weapons of her campaigns were her couture, soirées, and beauty. Men melted at her feet, and treated her whims as their commands. One, second husband Prince Borghese of Rome, paid to immortalize her in a voluptuous statue titled Venus Victrix, the fleshly model of which defeated a series of rumored votaries to the goddess of love. Fraser jauntily judges the likelihood or not of Pauline’s affairs while giving reign to the gossip they prompted, which included accusations of incest with Napoléon. True or not, the stories drew on Pauline’s loyalty to her history-making brother, whom she followed into exile on Elba. Discovering practical-minded steel inside the frivolities of this dictatrix of the boudoir, Fraser portrays with panache her feisty, flighty character. --Gilbert Taylor “Scandalous . . . Memorable . . . [A] juicy portrait of Napoleon’s most flamboyant and favored sibling . . . True to his Corsican roots, Napoleon Bonaparte made empire a family business. . . . But how to deploy his 25-year-old sister Pauline, already a disciplinary hard case, notorious for philandering in a court not known for circumspection? . . . It was the sort of impasse Napoleon would often face in dealing with Pauline, who resembled him both in temper and in looks. . . . Pauline was, Fraser admits, ‘a terrible role model.’ Which is, of course, why she’s such fun to read about.” –Alida Becker, The New York Times Book Review “Pauline’s life of scandal and intrigue makes for a page-turning read: the catalogue of lovers first cherished and then scorned; the jealous dislike of Napoleon’s wife, Josephine; the rumours of lesbian affairs and of incest with the brother who dominated Europe; the suspicions of venereal disease; and, with a near-nudity designed to titillate, Canova’s life-size statue of a reclining Pauline as Venus on display in Rome’s Villa Borghese (Pauline’s second husband was Prince Camillo Borghese.) . . . Napoleon Bonaparte [is] viewed for once in English literature through a French lens. [Fraser] reveal[s] Napoleon’s strength as an administrator, restoring France to order after the chaos of the revolution and the Terror. . . . Entertaining.” – The Economist “Napoleon’s favorite sister died of a stomach tumor in 1825, months before she turned 45–but what a life she led! Pauline courted scandal at every turn . . . Astonishingly beautiful, fiery, demanding, and salacious, Pauline makes a riveting subject for this gracefully written biography.” –Carmela Ciuraru, More “The life of Napoleon’s favorite sister–a capricious, petulant beauty, who defied convention and shocked 19th-century Europe with her many flagrant affairs, louche behavior, opulent jewels and lavish lifestyle. . . . Fraser became interested in Pauline after seeing her famous statue and catching a glimpse of the magnificent Palazzo Borghese in Rome several years ago and decided to delve into the life of the confident and independent woman who, despite star quality, had somehow been neglected by history and relegated to obscurity. . . . The twists and turns of Pauline’s story and the improbability of her lifestyle make her biography interesting reading. . . . Flora Fraser has plucked her from the shadows and, through archives, diaries an