The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B.

By: Sandra Gulland

Narrated by: Kim Handysides

In this first of three books inspired by the life of Josephine Bonaparte, Sandra Gulland has created a novel of immense and magical proportions. We meet Josephine in the exotic and lush Martinico, where an old island woman predicts that one day she will be queen. The journey from the remote village of her birth to the height of European elegance is long, but Josephine's fortune proves to be true. By way of fictionalized diary entries, we traverse her early years as she marries her one true love, bears his children, and is left betrayed, widowed, and penniless. It is Josephine's extraordinary charm, cunning, and will to survive that catapults her to the heart of society, where she meets Napoleon, whose destiny will prove to be irrevocably intertwined with hers.

©1995 Sandra Gulland (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

Performance...ugh

The story of Rose and her road to Josephine was intriguing but sadly, the narrator was horrible. Her voices she used for several of the characters was comical and sometimes she forgot to use “a voice” for a character. I’ve never wanted to stop listening to a book because of its performance but ... now i can say that i have!!! Sadly, i will not advance to the next book in this series even though i would like to know more about this character.
The storyline is weak, as well, to be honest and the book fell apart several places. Just...uGH!

Love this Trilogy but the Narration is dull and plodding

I read this Trilogy about 20 years ago and have always wanted to come back to it. At first I was surprised by the dull narration, and now I’m just irritated. The narration is ruining the book for me. The French pronunciation is awful, and some characters actually have an American southern accent. This story needs a Cassandra Campbell or Saskia Maarleveld to really bring it to life! I looked to see if there were any other audio versions available with a different narrator, but sadly, no.

Long suffering & tedious

I looked forward to this book with the upcoming release of the movie Napoleon. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed. This is 14+ hours long...13 hours before you get to Josephine's introduction to Napoleon. The narration is monotone...many times I had to go back to hear pieces of the story because I had "zoned out" and had to make myself continue the book (kept thinking it had to get better).