Love is never perfect and certainly the relationship between Princess Pauline Bonaparte Borghese—the sister of Napoleon Bonaparte—and Prince Camillo Borghese, is no different. Seen through the eyes of the young woman who served as Pauline’s lady-in-waiting and surrogate daughter, the Princess was both complicated and straightforward.
"Borghese’s first novel, writing about his ancestors, is a labor of love ... Pauline is a spitfire of a heroine--flawed, petulant, extremely unlikable, and mesmerizing. Throughout, the most compelling evolution is Sophie’s as she, like the reader, moves from being enamored with Pauline to disenchanted, but incapable of leaving her."