Chapter Summaries

Georgiana prepared her Sèvres villa as a salon and considered how to organize local work and disaster relief, while reflecting on Napoleon’s duties and France’s future. The new Sèvres factory director, Julian Ouvrard, confronted her, but the Earl of Malmesbury arrived before the encounter could go further.

• Georgiana planned to use the villa as a salon, with artists on the first floor and guests received on the second, and considered hiring local gardeners and housekeepers.
• Georgiana calculated that relief stations could provide work for only a limited number of people and concluded they could not bring down grain prices.
• Julian Ouvrard arrived and revealed that he was Sèvres’s new factory director.
• Julian questioned Georgiana about her guardians and hinted that he knew what she had done in the drying room.
• Georgiana objected to Julian’s pepper-scented perfume and told him to keep a clear head.
• The Earl of Malmesbury appeared at the salon doorway and greeted Georgiana.

Georgiana learned of the atrocities in Saint-Domingue and struggled with the consequences of war while organizing relief and work for France’s poor. The chapter ended with Michelle grieving over a letter reporting that her former classmate’s family had lost everything in Saint-Domingue.

• The Earl of Malmesbury told Georgiana about the brutal fighting in Saint-Domingue, and she recoiled at Leclerc’s reported order to suffocate prisoners with sulfur.
• Georgiana told Dubois about Napoleon’s secret imprisonment of grain smugglers but left it to him whether to inform Napoleon.
• Georgiana hired townspeople and cooks through the charity association, while Gilles Gobert distributed potato-growing pamphlets and the relief budget bought Irish and German potatoes for rural communities.
• Georgiana learned more about the Earl of Malmesbury’s connection to William Pitt the Younger and considered whether her new steward could serve as a high official.
• Michelle showed Georgiana a letter revealing that the Ségur family had lost its investments in Saint-Domingue, and Georgiana returned indoors with Michelle and Madame de Montesquieu.

Georgiana reflected on the Ségur family's decline and the disastrous French campaign in Saint-Domingue before meeting political figures seeking funds for soldiers' widows, orphans, and relief work. As they discussed aid and unrest in southern France, Pierre-Louis Ginguené asked her about a phrase she had coined, prompting Georgiana to retreat to write.

• Georgiana considered how the French Revolution and the Saint-Domingue campaign had ruined the Ségur family and left Michelle grieving.
• Madame de Montesquieu told Georgiana that Maximin Isnard and Charles Garnier had come to discuss relief for soldiers' widows and orphans.
• Georgiana learned that pamphlets were being distributed to incite rebellion in southern France and discussed relief plans with Isnard and Garnier.
• Garnier proposed aid through bread and soap coupons and work relief, while Isnard advocated mobilizing women to distribute pledged tools from pawnshops.
• Pierre-Louis Ginguené asked Georgiana how she had described Sieyès as 'Jonah vomited out by the devil,' and Georgiana left to write down an idea.

Georgiana drafted Napoleon a report on France’s grain crisis, arguing that roads, reliable supplies, and public works were needed to prevent hoarding and hunger. She sent the report to the First Consul, while privately wrestling with the moral dangers of power and war.

• Georgiana considered how grain-price controls would fail without enough grain, and outlined taxes and transport as ways to force grain onto the market.
• She reasoned that widows and orphans could be given bread from palace granaries, while public works could provide employment for other struggling families.
• Georgiana concluded that France needed open transport routes and steady grain shipments, and proposed a railway from Lyon to Paris to improve supply.
• Georgiana finished her report, placed it with a handwritten letter, and asked Matilda to deliver it to Napoleon.
• Georgiana reflected on America’s vulnerability and on the devastation of war, questioning whether she might become willing to kill innocents.

Georgiana weighed France’s grain crisis and wartime politics while Napoleon brushed aside her concerns and arranged relief for widows through Josephine. Frustrated by the Ministry of Magic’s disorder and inactivity, Georgiana confronted its staff and ordered its department heads to meet.

• Georgiana considered how grain monopolies, poor harvests, and political rivalries had shaped France’s food crisis and questioned who had ordered the British navy to deploy.
• Napoleon replied to Georgiana’s letter that women should stay at home, while Josephine organized bread distribution and support for widows.
• Georgiana learned that Dermide would attend royal family gatherings and Easter Mass with Letizia, leaving Georgiana free to visit the Ministry of Magic.
• Georgiana found wizards treating the Ministry as a social club and swept a Phoenix of Dragon’s Breath through its atrium to get their attention.
• Carolan Lestrange told Georgiana that Rabastan was catching dragons and the staff had been partying in his absence.
• Georgiana ordered the Ministry staff to clean up, demanded a meeting of department heads, and threatened to exile the logistics director to Saint-Domingue if the mess returned.

Georgiana issued orders to protect France’s wizarding population and spent the night bathing with Lufu Truman and Napoleoni, whose discussion turned to political unrest, hunger, and exhausted soldiers. Napoleoni sought rest and comfort from her, while the question of whether he would disband the troops remained unanswered.

• Georgiana ordered the ministers to enforce the Statute of Secrecy, protect young wizards and send them to Beauxbatons, and rebuild Quidditch and diplomatic ties.
• Georgiana practiced fire magic with Carolan, then went to bathe at Sophie and Gaudin Poitvin’s house.
• Lufu Truman confronted Georgiana in the bathroom about whether France was truly at war, then left after she dismissed him.
• Napoleoni joined Georgiana in the bath, and they discussed magic, his illness, food shortages, and plans for a canal and railway.
• Napoleoni recalled Georgiana’s warning about exhausted soldiers and asked whether she had foreseen the crisis, but he did not answer whether he would disband them.

Georgiana managed the Tuileries dining hall’s expenses while advising officials on Napoleon’s cost-cutting policies and considering how to fund public works. After reflecting on gambling and Napoleon’s rise while looking out the window, she returned to her work.

• Georgiana advised Napoleon to wait before giving up on his plans for Saint-Domingue and North America, then returned to the Tuileries to organize the Easter meals and lodging.
• An Italian Republic representative protested Napoleon’s tariffs, but left Georgiana’s office excited by a business opportunity; Georgiana decided to serve rice and other international dishes instead of so much bread.
• Georgiana explained to Portalis that Napoleon wanted inexpensive religious regalia, and Portalis warned her about the Organic Articles added to the Concordat.
• Georgiana considered Adam Smith’s arguments about public works and the costs of labor as she worried about finding funds to complete the canals and retain experienced workers.
• Hearing tennis outside, Georgiana looked toward the court, considered legalizing gambling through a discreet lottery, and reflected on Napoleon’s rise before returning to her desk.

Georgiana clashed with Madame Rémusat over the political meaning of Napoleon’s clothing, then met him in the Tuileries billiard room, where he discussed the Church, marriage, and his plans for the Élysée Palace. The chapter ended with Napoleon asking whether she had requested its keys to turn the palace into an inn.

• Georgiana refused Madame Rémusat’s demand that men wear stockings, arguing that the clothing carried political implications, until Philippe-Paul de Ségur summoned her to Napoleon.
• Napoleon asked Georgiana whether she had considered what he wanted to wear and questioned her conversation with Portalis; she insisted Portalis had misunderstood his letter.
• Napoleon said he wanted Georgiana to attend Mass and watch him marry another woman, then suggested that they could have a wedding ceremony of their own.
• Georgiana slapped Napoleon, urged him to revere God, and agreed to dance with him after he insisted that accompanying him was her duty.
• Napoleon asked why Georgiana had requested the keys to the Élysée Palace, and she explained that she intended to turn it into an inn for wealthy visitors while housing Louis I elsewhere.

Georgiana explained British court presentation rules to Bonaparte, then discussed his political plans, religious tensions, and practical ways to manage the Mass and the canal workers. Their conversation ended with Bonaparte pouncing on her after she teased him about sending doctors to Louisiana.

• Georgiana described the procedures and requirements for being presented at court, and Bonaparte said they sounded terrifying.
• Georgiana asked whether Josephine was happy working for Bonaparte, while he brought up Nelson and Lady Hamilton in Naples.
• Bonaparte recited Georgiana's earlier Shakespearean reply and questioned why she had refused him when she had accepted another man's proposal after only one request.
• Georgiana explained that she opposed the stocking proposal to prevent conflict and suggested traffic routes and spare stockings for the Mass at Notre-Dame Cathedral.
• Bonaparte asked Georgiana to help with the priests, and she suggested sending Portalis to the canal site and having the women's association prepare Easter eggs for workers.
• Georgiana proposed sending vaccination doctors to Louisiana, and Bonaparte pinched her ear before pouncing on her.

Georgiana helped fund an extra meal for canal workers, attended the ceremony announcing the Concordat, and managed the generals’ relatives at the Tuileries. After Josephine left on a trip to find a wife for Eugene, Georgiana was left to receive visitors and wondered whether Napoleon would pursue her and Leon would challenge him.

• Georgiana sold varnish to wealthy carriage owners and used the proceeds to provide canal workers with an extra meal, while Napoleon added wine and a puppet show.
• Napoleon and the generals attended the Concordat ceremony at Notre-Dame, where the bells rang for the first time in ten years.
• Georgiana refused Moreau’s mother-in-law entry to the Tuileries without an audience pass, and the Council of Five Hundred approved the Concordat’s terms.
• The Earl of Malmesbury gave Georgiana a copy of Britain’s Factory Act and warned her about a coup in Switzerland.
• Josephine departed with Madame Rémusat to seek a suitable wife for Eugene, leaving Georgiana in charge of receiving visitors.
• Georgiana thought about Napoleon’s past and hoped Leon would have the chance to duel him if Napoleon came for her.

Georgiana considered the unrest in Saint-Antonin and discussed the Saint-Domingue campaign, public opinion, and trade with General Lannes and Madame Lannes. After they left, she prepared to meet William Pitt the Younger's teacher, whose news she awaited.

• Bandits disguised as grain merchants entered Saint-Antonin, opened the way for an attack, and plundered the city before disappearing into nearby villages.
• Georgiana examined a painting sent by the mayor of Brussels and refused to use it to plead for General Lannes's appointment in Antwerp.
• Lannes defended keeping French troops in Saint-Domingue, while Georgiana urged him to consider the atrocities and the influence of rumors and public opinion.
• Georgiana told Lannes that Napoleon might withdraw from Saint-Domingue because of a new ailment, and showed him a letter about a young woman in Avignon who had saved her father.
• Georgiana explained to Madame Lannes that standardizing measures would help provincial grain trade, then hinted that Portugal and Tobago mattered to the situation in Saint-Domingue.
• After Lannes and his wife departed, Georgiana asked Matilda to summon her next guest, William Pitt the Younger's teacher.

Georgiana discussed Portugal’s political weakness, British and French financial interests, and the brutal situation in Saint-Domingue with Earl of Malmesbury and Julian Ouvrard. She learned that her Paris-to-Lyon railway proposal had leaked, while the men pressed her to secure Napoleon’s support for a ceasefire and railway construction.

• Earl of Malmesbury warned Georgiana that French forces in Saint-Domingue had ordered hounds from Cuba to hunt people, and Julian Ouvrard urged a ceasefire to protect investors.
• Julian Ouvrard advised Georgiana to warn Napoleon that grain prices should not fall below twenty francs per metric quintal, while Earl of Malmesbury raised the danger of grain piling up in New Orleans.
• Earl of Malmesbury revealed that the French were pursuing railway schemes and offered British funds to build a Paris-to-Lyon railway; Julian Ouvrard proposed that French or Saint-Domingue prisoners provide labor.
• Georgiana realized that information from her private letter to Napoleon had leaked and suspected Matilda, who entered with tea as Georgiana resolved to question her after the men left.

Georgiana considered how war, trade, and economic policy shaped France before meeting with Julian Ouvrard, whose insulting comparison of her to a character from Montesquieu’s Persian Letters enraged her. She left to return to Paris and tell Bonaparte about him, reflecting on the contrast between her education and the limited choices available to girls.

• The narration explained how Caracalla expanded Roman citizenship to increase tax revenue and compared the effects of slavery, food prices, and relief on Britain’s economy.
• Georgiana considered grain exports, canals, railways, and the risks that kept French bankers from investing, while reflecting on how Napoleon’s ambitions had tied him to France.
• Georgiana asked Julian Ouvrard to stay and sent Matilda away so they could discuss the lottery privately.
• Julian spoke about Montesquieu’s Persian Letters and called Georgiana “immortal Anaïs”; she slapped him, and he laughed.
• Georgiana decided to tell Bonaparte about Julian and took an inconspicuous carriage toward Paris with Phyllis’s help.
• Georgiana saw a girl carrying a Sèvres porcelain doll and reflected bitterly that girls in the eighteenth century had little chance to receive advanced education.

Georgiana considered whether France could sustain grain imports and reflected on Napoleon’s financial and military vulnerabilities. She warned Bonaparte that Britain’s offer to help evacuate the wounded from Saint-Domingue was likely a trap, but he left without revealing his plans.

• Georgiana observed the grain shipment’s arrival in Rouen and considered the transport, storage, and supply problems facing France.
• Georgiana entered the Tuileries Palace, read a British newspaper, and reasoned that Napoleon’s finances depended on Spanish silver and the fate of Saint-Domingue.
• Bonaparte arrived, and Georgiana asked him to stop Julian Ouvrard from calling her the immortal Anaïs.
• Georgiana told Bonaparte that Britain’s offer to provide assistance in Trinidad in exchange for railway operating rights seemed like a trap.
• Bonaparte discussed the dangers of disease and the soldiers’ desire to rest, then spoke about his campaigns and the Circassian girl in Persian Letters.
• Georgiana asked Bonaparte what he intended to do, but he left without answering.

Georgiana considered Paris’s food supply and social unrest before Napoleon assigned her to command a mounted chasseur regiment. She learned she was bound for the Alps to protect transport routes and clear mountain passes, and she was relieved to avoid Saint-Domingue.

• Georgiana wrote recommendations for controlling bread prices and securing food supplies, then gave them to Berthier.
• Berthier delivered Napoleon’s orders and a sword, sending Georgiana to Versailles to take command of troops.
• Georgiana changed into men’s clothing, left Matilda and Madame de Montesquieu in charge at Sèvres, and traveled to Versailles with Phyllis.
• Davout briefed Georgiana that she would command one thousand irregular mounted chasseurs responsible for guarding transport routes and escorting military couriers.
• Georgiana learned that her regiment was heading to the Alps, where she would also find workers to clear snow and reopen herdsmen’s routes.
• Georgiana cursed sugar and coffee, mounted her horse, and rode toward the Alps, grateful she was not being sent to Saint-Domingue.

Georgiana managed military and local affairs in Annecy as winter delayed the reopening of mountain roads and banditry persisted. She arranged a castle for the special court and prepared to visit the horse market, while requesting her Mamluks and women’s clothes.

• Georgiana observed the difficult work of clearing snow and reopening roads across Mont Blanc Province as the unusually cold winter continued.
• Georgiana coordinated with French and Swiss garrisons and agreed to attend a banquet hosted by local notables.
• Georgiana arranged for an abandoned castle across the lake to house the special military court and told Constable Bruce Bernard that juries could not handle bandit cases.
• Goebel delivered Georgiana’s letters, and she asked Bernard to help her buy fine horses for Paris.
• Georgiana asked Phyllis to summon her Mamluks and request women’s clothes from Matilda, then left with Bernard for the horse market.

Georgiana explored ways to develop trade and transport in Annecy while arranging for local officials to test wooden rails and monitoring the arrival of the Mamluks. Lord Bloom and Lord Henry Petty arrived with a plan to take her back to London, but Dumont revealed they had met with the First Consul before coming.

• Georgiana saw yarrow among the fodder and considered cultivating it for medicine and building an essential oil business in Annecy.
• Georgiana urged Jacques Morel to lay wooden rails on a country road, and the demonstration showed that one horse could pull a load that had challenged two.
• Matilda wrote that Dermide was studying under Madame de Montesquieu and often fought with Murat's young son.
• The Mamluks arrived, and Georgiana arranged for the Chasseurs guarding her to leave town on their mission.
• Lord Bloom introduced Lord Henry Petty, who invited Georgiana to return to London and said Napoleon was bathing constantly and had driven Lucien and Talleyrand out of the bathtub.
• Dumont told Georgiana that he was Lord Petty's tutor and that they had met with the First Consul before arriving.

Georgiana told Gilles Gobert that Britain was blackmailing France by threatening to suspend a license and offering Barbados for French wounded in exchange for Spain’s gold ships reaching London. She ordered Gobert to write and personally deliver a letter, while reflecting on Napoleon’s choices and the spreading conflict in Saint-Domingue.

• Georgiana asked Gobert whether he knew how the forged letter imitating Marie Antoinette’s handwriting had been used, and he said Gaudin had sold it to a collector.
• Georgiana made Gobert swear secrecy and ordered him to write a letter that she would later verify as his handwriting.
• Georgiana told Gobert that Britain wanted to suspend the license and would offer Barbados for French wounded if Godoy pardoned Spain’s gold ships to sail to London.
• Gobert called the offer blackmail, and Georgiana said deserters had already swum to Barbados hoping to board British ships for Europe.
• Gobert said curiosity had drawn him into the affair, while Georgiana reflected on Napoleon, smallpox inoculation, and the war in Saint-Domingue.
• Georgiana told Gobert to write the letter as she stood by the moonlit lake.

Georgiana and Henry Petty discussed currency, taxation, roads, and industrial development as they considered ways to improve the Alpine region and secure local investment. The chapter ended with Georgiana watching Napoleon’s men hunt fugitives through the mountains with dogs and condemning the practice.

• Henry Petty explained how currency standards, worn coins, and exchange costs affected merchants and governments.
• Henry Petty and Georgiana considered road taxes, carriage manufacturing, technical schools, and collecting land rent in both money and grain.
• Henry Petty refused to meet local elites while he and Georgiana awaited a reply from Paris.
• Georgiana questioned Napoleon’s methods as Chasseurs and stunt riders searched the Alpine forests with dogs for fugitives.

Georgiana inspected Annecy’s finances, roads, and military arrangements, then decided she could no longer remain with Napoleon while he allowed cruel methods to secure victory. She left St. Pierre Cathedral with her Mamluk escort, intending to leave France and let her lover seek a different happiness.

• Georgiana visited Annecy and considered using an existing building for shelters while discussing banks, road tolls, and the risks of private road operators.
• Georgiana reflected on forced labor and concluded that she would leave if Napoleon supported slavery or permitted Rochambeau’s cruelty through silence.
• Georgiana said goodbye to her lover in her thoughts and decided not to go to Venice for her honeymoon with Severus.
• Georgiana left St. Pierre Cathedral, mounted her horse, and rode away with a hundred Mamluks waiting outside.
• Georgiana considered how to escape her escort and leave something behind for her lover so he would not send people after her.