Helen Maria Williams

A Lady in Paris During 'The Hundred Days', 1815-Letters Covering the Period of Napoleon's Escape from Elba to the Fall of the Capital Helen Maria Williams

Eyewitness to the end of an epoch

During the bicentenary year the Battle of Waterloo much attention will focus on the battle itself and events before and after. This book is invaluable in that regard, since it was written by a British woman who had been a long established resident in Paris. She has left us an essential view of the return of Napoleon to the capital after his escape from Elba. Her narrative takes the reader through the turmoil of the flight of Louis XVI and the re-establishment of imperial government, the return of the defeated French Army after Waterloo, the defence of Paris and its eventual fall to the Allies. Eyewitness accounts of the arrival of the victorious armies and their occupation of the capital are comparatively rare, especially from a civilian female witness. What makes this book particularly noteworthy is that Helen Williams was a well regarded novelist, poet and translator. A republican and early feminist, Williams was imprisoned during the 'Terror', and was an intimate of Mary Wollstonecraft, Francisco de Miranda and Thomas Paine.
Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.