The Emperor's Last Island

Napoleon spent the final six years of his life as a prisoner on St Helena, an island with a sad, strange history, recounted in this book. It also follows Napoleon through the eyes of those who lived with him and guarded him, and describes the author's own journey to the island.

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After Waterloo, Napoleon gave himself up to the English on the understanding that they would lodge him in a "fairly large" country house just outside London. Instead, he spent the final six years of his life as a prisoner on St Helena, a tiny tropical island in the South Atlantic. More than 2000 British soldiers were stationed there to ensure he could not escape, and the former Emperor and his companions lived in a wind-blown tumbledown house. This book is about St Helena, an island with a sad, strange history. It follows Napoleon through the eyes of those who lived with him and guarded him, and is also a description of the author's own journey to the island.