49. The Second Empress by Michelle Moran I finished The Second Empress back in mid-December, but my review has been on the back-burner. Thank you to Fashionista-Piranha for the opportunity to read it. I received it as a prize in her giveaway. Princess Maria Lucia of Austria is asked to make an impossible choice: invite war and devastation on her country and the probable loss of her father's throne OR marry the monster who has wreaked such destruction across Europe. Meanwhile, Pauline, a woman born into poverty and now the sister of an Emperor, struggles with her unnatural affection for her brother and a debilitating illness. Pauline's servant, Paul, cares for his mistress and pines for her love as he watches her grow ever more erratic and cruel. All of these stories are tied together in Michelle Moran's The Second Empress , a historical novel set in the last years of Napoleon's rule in France. I think choosing to write about Napoleon's often forgotten s...
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