After Napoleon Bonaparte's defeat at Waterloo (1815), the British government exiled him to the island of St Helena, where he forged a friendship with Betsy Balcombe (later Abell, 1802 71), the thirteen-year-old daughter of the government official in whose premises he stayed while Longwood House was being prepared as his residence. In these vivid memoirs, first published in 1844, Abell recalls her time spent with Napoleon, painting a portrait of a humorous and boyish character, of whom she was initially afraid, but then came to view as a friend and companion. Recounting his arrival, his...