No rags to riches story can compare with that of Napoleon and Josephine, two outsiders who rose to become Emperor and Empress of the French Republic. This joint biography embraces the lives not only of the two central figures, but of all the vital personalities of the revolutionary era Josephine's career led her into the world of powerful political salons and into prisons where she narrowly escaped the guillotine. Napoleon's fierce ambition raised him to prominence from the time of his first meeting with the reluctant Josephine. As his wife she was to meet the implacable hostility of the Bonaparte clan whose intigues against her provided a savage backdrop to her marriage.