Annemarie Selinko (September 1, 1914 - July 28, 1986) was an Austrian novelist who wrote a number of best-selling books in German from the 1930s through the 1950s. Although she had been based in Germany, in 1939 at the start of World War II she took refuge in Denmark with her Danish husband, but then in 1943, they again became refugees, this time to Sweden.
Many of her novels have been adapted into movies and all have been translated into numerous languages. Her last work 顿茅蝉颈谤茅别 (1951) was about 顿茅蝉颈谤茅别 Clary, one of Napoleon's lovers and, later, a queen of Sweden. It has been translated into 25 languages and in 1956 was turned into a movie with Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons. It is dedicated to her sister Liselotte, who was murdered by the Nazis.
Bibliography
* Ich war ein h盲脽liches M盲dchen (I Was an Ugly Girl), Vienna: Kirschner Verlag, 1937; Made into a film, West Germany, 1955. * Morgen wird alles besser (Tomorrow is Always Better), 1941; Made into a film, Morgen gaat het beter, Netherlands, 1939 * Heute heiratet mein Mann (My Husband Marries Today), 1943; Made into a film, West Germany, 1956. * 顿茅蝉颈谤茅别, 1952; Made into a film, U.S., 1954.
Eug茅nie Bernardine 顿茅蝉颈谤茅别 Clary (8 November 1777 鈥� 17 December 1860), in Swedish officially Eugenia Bernhardina Desideria, was Queen of Sweden and Norway as the consort of King Charles XIV John (a former French General and founder of the House of Bernadotte), mother of Oscar I, and one-time fianc茅e of Napoleon Bonaparte. She officially changed her name there to Desideria, which she did not use herself.
To be young, in France, and in love: fourteen year old Desiree can't believe her good fortune. Her fiance, a dashing and ambitious Napoleon Bonaparte, is poised for battlefield success, and no longer will she be just a French merchant's daughter. She could not have known the twisting path her role in history would take, nearly breaking her vibrant heart but sweeping her to a life rich in passion and desire.
A love story, but so much more, 顿茅蝉颈谤茅别 explores the landscape of a young heart torn in two, giving readers a compelling true story of an ordinary girl whose unlikely brush with history leads to a throne no one would have expected.
An epic bestseller that has earned both critical acclaim and mass adoration, 顿茅蝉颈谤茅别 is at once a novel of the rise and fall of empires, the blush and fade of love, and the heart and soul of a woman.
This is how historical fiction should be! ... Some of it, anyway. :)
I read and reread this book many times as a teenager and am very happy to say that I still found the same enjoyment in it after more than 20 years.
It is the story of Eug茅nie Desir茅e Clary, daughter of a Marseille silk merchant, who was Napoleon's first bride. After being jilted, she marries general Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, who in turn becomes crown prince and then king of Sweden.
Selinko did a fantastic job with this novel. Through the diary entries of 顿茅蝉颈谤茅别, this charming, well-meaning, but rather shallow ing茅nue, we are shown the history of France from 1794 (Robespierre is still "on top") to 1829 (when D. gets crowned as Queen of Sweden & Norway).
We get to know Napoleon and all his family, as 顿茅蝉颈谤茅别 is closely connected with them (her older sister married Napoleon's brother) and are shown all the historical milestones from Napoleon's seizing power to his final abdication.
While the author rather exaggerates Desir茅e's part in the historical events and romatincizes and embellishes her and her husband's relationship, she does it in a thoroughly delightful way.
Maybe this book is not a literary masterpiece, but its pages have become like old friends over time.
When I was a teenager this book was passed on to me by my mother, who had also read it when she was my age. The pages are now littered with the teenage dreams of two generations, I guess.
At the heart of this novel stands one of the lesser known love stories of the 18/19th Century, that of young 顿茅蝉颈谤茅别 Clary who falls desperately in love with dashing soldier Napoleone Buonaparte. But when Napol茅on, as he will become known, leaves her for Paris and the charms of one Jos茅phine, 顿茅蝉颈谤茅别's journey only just begins.
Spoilers ahead, but only if you're not a history buff...
While her and Napol茅on's paths recross through the years, 顿茅蝉颈谤茅别 falls in love with one of the Emperors generals, who will end up becoming the Swedish king - Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte. The Swedish royals to this day carry the name Bernadotte...
The book has its cheesy moments, undoubtedly. But it does tell a real story, albeit with some embellishment on the side. But what would a historical novel be without it?
Told as a diary, we read 顿茅蝉颈谤茅别's deepest secrets and watch as she grows from impatient teenager, waiting for her life to begin, to wife, mother, crown-princess and queen.
I have read this book many times. For many it will probably not deserve a five-star rating. But I can open my old copy, which is almost falling apart at this point, anywhere and just read on. I know this book, inside and out. And that alone is part of its charm...
顿茅蝉颈谤茅别 is one of those old family favorites which I've read many times and keep coming back to like an old friend.
It's the sweeping story of 顿茅蝉颈谤茅别 Clary, the daughter of a Marseilles silk merchant, from her early love for and engagement to Napoleon to her later marriage to French Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, who later became king of Sweden (and 顿茅蝉颈谤茅别 queen). 顿茅蝉颈谤茅别 herself is one of its chief charms; as the book is in the form of an ongoing journal, everything is filtered through her sparkling, direct, and charming personality.
Historically, I find it largely convincing (though I'd still like to read a good biography of Bernadotte to see if her picture of him is accurate), particularly in the portrayal of Napoleon, who can easily turn into a caricature of himself if handled wrongly; Selinko makes him entirely believable, as an egotistical tyrant, but also as a human being. Although 顿茅蝉颈谤茅别 marries Bernadotte, it's her scenes with Napoleon which are frequently the most arresting and emotional.
If you've read 顿茅蝉颈谤茅别 and are interested in a historical diarist of that time, I'd highly recommend .
I reread this in German, but I don't trust my written German, as it's been decades since I've had any practice.
I first read the English translation as a fourteen-year-old when my mother recommended it. The book opens with Desir茅e Clary at fourteen thinking herself very grown up and ready to take agency for her own life, including falling in love, something that made perfect sense to me at the same age.
I reread it a couple times through college and grad school as a comfort read, and it sat on my shelf for years after. Having finished it, I then got out my copies of Laura Junot's memoirs, published in the mid-1800s, to reread for mentions of Desir茅e and Bernadotte; though Junot is not to be trusted completely, there are many details in her memoir that ring true with countless biographies I've read over the decades..
This book is not great literature in the sense of MIDDLEMARCH, etc, but it's surprisingly true to the personalities, at least as far as I can tell. If you've never heard of it, it purports to be the diary of Eugenie Desiree Clary, a silk merchant's daughter, who was as a teenager engaged to Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon's older brother Joseph did marry Desiree's older sister Julie, but Napoleon, as we know, married Josephine, who at that time reigned over the social scene of Revolutionary Paris post-Robespierre.
Desiree ended up marrying Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, one of Napoleon's generals, then Marshalls, who ended up being voted in as Crown Prince of Sweden by the Swedish Parliament when the last of the Vasas were pretty much all mad. Or declared mad. The Bernadotte dynasty remains the royal family of Sweden to this day.
What's more, in one of those weird twists, Annemarie Selenko, an Austrian who left Austria for Sweden when the Nazis came to power, was inspired to write the book after working for one of the Bernadottes in the diplomatic service--I believe the same one who was to work for freeing Jews from incarceration in Germany; he almost led a rescue mission into Hungary that instead was led by Wallenberg, who was inspired by Leslie Howard's remarkable film PIMPERNEL SMITH. Bernadotte, with his wider connections, made his contribution another way.
Anyway, though some events are shined up a bit for the reading audience, and some bits altogether fictionalized (like Napoleon's surrender after Waterloo) there is enough of a sense of the real people, who were a remarkable collection, to convey at least a patina of history. I was especially impressed with her depiction of Talleyrand. I can only imagine Selinko read French, and went through all those memoirs which were easily available in used bookstores and libraries in the first half of the twentieth century. As I mentioned, I got out the Junot memoire, which is highly fictionalized, and yet there are details that absolutely resonate as true. Details like the Bonaparte girls, and the marshals' wives, having to learn imperial court etiquette, which was totally unknown to these young women who were raised during the Revolutionary years. Questions like, "How do we get through the door with these feathers on our heads and the wide skirts?" vexed them tremendously.
Looking at these two works, one fiction based on real history, and one non-fiction with a lot of embroidery to it, brought home yet again that the best social histories are really a lot of gossip, heh.
Found this when I was looking for a novel that has dual timelines, one in The French Revolution and another in present time and I remember devouring this in a short span of time and absolutely loving it. It gave me a lingering perspective on the French Revolution and it is still one of the most romantic novels I have read.
The date read is entirely random, and it is certainly not this edition as I read a translation into Danish.