Memorie Di Emma Lyonna, Vol. 8/8

A historical novel written in the mid-19th century. Cast as the first-person memoir of Emma Hamilton, it traces her intimate entanglement with Admiral Horatio Nelson and the Bourbon court of Naples amid war, diplomacy, and scandal at the dawn of the Napoleonic era. The focus is on power, loyalty, and reputation as Emma navigates sieges, royal favor, British command politics, and her fraught private life alongside Nelson. The opening of this volume places Emma on board with Nelson during the brutal reckoning that follows the fall of the Neapolitan Republic: Nelson breaks with Cardinal Ruffo over honoring capitulations, the king arrives in the bay, and prisoners are held despite Ruffo’s protests. Emma then humanizes the chaos by saving a condemned sailor tied to her childhood, even as executions continue ashore. The narrative shifts to Palermo—royal gratitude, Nelson’s birthday praise from Queen Carolina, and a violent anti-Turkish riot that Nelson contains—before widening to Bonaparte’s return, the reshuffling of British command (Lord Keith), and Nelson’s capture of a French ship off Malta amid orders meant to separate him from Emma. Court favors, snubs over orders and decorations, and travel with the queen through Livorno during the shock of Marengo lead to a hard overland flight (Firenze–Ancona–Trieste) and refuge with a Russian squadron, then Vienna’s salons (Esterházy, Haydn) and the queen’s successful appeal to Russia that yields a Franco-Neapolitan armistice with amnesty. The section closes with Emma’s northward journey, vivid vignettes in Hamburg (a centuries-old wine, a meeting with Dumouriez), a roaring English welcome, and a raw, revealing scene of jealousy as she edges Lady Nelson aside at the moment of Nelson’s homecoming.