Yearning for the life of a European aristocrat, Elizabeth Patterson wed Jerome, Napoleon Bonaparte's youngest brother, after a whirlwind American courtship. The French emperor had different plans and broke up the marriage despite Elizabeth's pregnancy and the subsequent birth of a son. In this expertly researched and carefully documented biography, Lewis tells the personal saga of a woman scorned, in the process revealing much about this country's debates over the creation of a national culture and the role of women within it. The scandalous behavior of Madame Bonaparte, for some time well known to the American public, was fodder for novels, plays, and even a couple of early Hollywood movies.