Book review: Napoleon’s Last Island by Tom Keneally is an intriguing tale of a world turned upside down
As with Schindler’s List, Keneally uses real events as a springboard to explore the tricks and turns of history and its relentless march past even the most significant people
by Tom Keneally
Random House
On a chance visit to an exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria, author Tom Keneally discovered an astonishing Australian connection to Napoleon Bonaparte. When the exiled emperor was imprisoned on the south Atlantic island of St Helena, he spent three months as a guest of the Balcombe family. Napoleon’s Last Island is the intriguing tale of the friendship that sprung up between the Balcombe’s youngest daughter, Betsy, and the man known as the Great Ogre. A friendship that, in the end, saw the Balcombes exiled to Australia.
It is October 1815. The Balcombe family reside at their St Helena residence the Briars. William Balcombe works for the East India Company. His daughters, Jane and Betsy, live a free and easy life, interrupted only by occasional bouts of education. Betsy loves this tropical paradise and never wishes to leave.
When the British navy delivers Napoleon Bonaparte to the island, a captain informs William Balcombe that St Helena is to be the new Elba. “The Ogre is to be placed halfway between Europe, Africa and South America. This is the deepest pocket they could find to put the Universal Demon in.”