Gracie and the Emperor

Errol Broome (author)

Allen&Unwin, Australia: 2003; 149pp

ISBN: 1865088811

Genres: adventure, historical fiction

Issues: family, identity, personal development

CBCA notable book, Younger Readers, 2004.

Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France, has been defeated by the British at Waterloo. He has been sent into exile on St Helena, a tiny island far out in the north Atlantic. The arrival of the general and his court causes all sorts of social and economic changes in the small, mostly British community.

Gracie doesn't want him to come at all. Her father has taught her that Boneparte is a merciless monster who would stop at nothing to rule the entire world - and that he eats children for breakfast. She is only eleven and her one aim is to stay as far away as she can from this unwelcome prisoner. Gracie's father is poor, however, and the child must work to bring in a little extra money to enable them to survive. So she finds herself working at ‘The Briars', the manor house where he is being housed temporarily until the bleaker Longwood estate is made secure. Although she manages to avoid actually meeting him, Gracie has the uneasy feeling that the former Emperor is aware of her. As the years pass and she struggles to understand her father's bitterness and anger, she finds that her fears of the Emperor have faded and she begins to see the man inside the infamous ruler. That knowledge changes her perspective on many things - herself, her dreams, and her relationships with those around her.

Gracie and the Emperor is rather different to Broome's earlier work, being historical fiction rather than humour or fantasy. The impact that such a significant historical figure might have had on a closed community is certainly an interesting one, especially from the perspective of a young girl. This is an interesting novel but somehow lacks the depth that would have made it a more satisfying read.