Betsy Balcombe: To Befriend an Emperor

This is Betsy Balcombe's memoirs of life with Napoleon on St Helena. She was a precocious teenager and when Napoleon was exiled to St Helena in 1815, after Waterloo, he initially lived with the Balcombes in their bungalow.

The resulting drama of having the world's most famous lodger is a wonderful, funny and revealing scenario. It is the nineteenth century equivalent of Osama Bin Laden living with Charlotte Church.

Betsy's memoirs are detailed, frank and gossipy. She paints a very human picture of Napoleon in what must have been a very difficult period for him (lost Waterloo, lost his empire, living in a tiny island far from Europe).

This edition is really well produced, very nicely illustrated and contains explanatory notes which are helpful and concise.