Wondrous Beauty: The Life and Adventures of Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte
Renowned Baltimore beauty Elizabeth Patterson, the daughter of a wealthy businessman, scandalized elites on both sides of the Atlantic in 1803 when she married Jerome Bonaparte, the youngest brother of Napoléon. Her father objected, and Napoléon later annulled the marriage and banned Betsy from the family and France, but neither man could stop the headstrong young woman from pressing her rights, whatever it cost the U.S. in diplomatic controversy. Bored with life in Baltimore and defiant of her controlling father and the limited expectations of women at the time, Betsy spent much of her life in Europe, courted for her beauty, intelligence, and tragic circumstances. An outcast of a famously outcast family, once Napoléon was exiled, she never remarried and carried the cachet of the Bonaparte name, spending decades arguing for her son’s and grandson’s right of succession. Despite her scorn for the American preoccupation with moneymaking, Betsy amassed a fortune of her own when she was denied the fortunes of her father and the Bonapartes. Berkin renders a fascinating portrait of a determined woman who defied convention. --Vanessa Bush