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THAT SPANISH WOMAN by F. W. Kenyon

THAT SPANISH WOMAN

By

Publisher: Dodd, Mead

Eugenie, stormy petrel who became the wife of Louis Napoleon, and who is best remembered perhaps for her role as arbiter of fashion and setter of precedent in the years when she was the enigmatic empress, now joins the ranks of F. W. Kenyon's growing roster of women of history. He has chosen Emma, Josephine, Marie Antoinette, Mary of Scotland, Nell Gwynne, Elizabeth I- and now Eugenie. But comparison will be made -- because of subject matter -- with Hester Chapman's Eugenie (Little, Brown-1961- reviewed p. 4(4). The characterization has many parallels, though the focus in the Chapman was largely on the young Eugenie as seen through the eyes of her English duenna (who preferred her sister) while the Kenyon story is told in the first person by Eugenie herself, with resultant and deliberate-- lack of objectivity. Both books cover the full span of her amazing story, though the emphasis is different. And in both books the reader gets a sense of the place in history of the brief Second Empire and of the man who was its leader. Eugenie emerges as a fascinating figure, despite her eccentricities and her selfish goals. F. W. Kenyon is dependably authentic in his research and gives stature to the biographical historical novel.