the many lives and secret sorrows of josephine

With that defection, Rose knows that the entire family is being scrutinized. Alexandre eventually relents and Rose is able to live where she chooses though she does not live with Alexandre.Īlexandre and his brother, Francois, are soon embroiled in the politics of the day and Alexandre is promoted quickly while Francois is forced to leave the country after a failed attempt to rescue the King. Alexandre's infidelities drive a wedge between the couple and he soon orders Rose out of his house so that she is living in a convent. The couple have a son, Eugene, followed soon after by a daughter, Hortense. Alexandre is handsome and sought after, and soon agrees that he will marry Rose.

Rose's mother, Claire, cannot bear the thought of sending the youngest daughter, Manette, and Rose makes the trip. Alexandre's father agrees that his son will marry one of Joseph's daughters-Rose or Manette-and leaves the choice of which up to Joseph. Rose's father, Joseph, sends word of Catherine's death and proposes Rose's name instead. Soon after Catherine's death, Rose's aunt Desiree sends word that the son of a French Marquis, a boy named Alexandre, wants to marry Catherine. The girls return to school but are soon sent home because Catherine is ill. Rose is punished for seeking the fortune teller and her sister Catherine later seeks out the same old woman who tells Catherine that she will die before her next birthday. The island of Montinico where Rose's family lives is a haven for voodoo and Rose, consulting a fortune teller, learns that she is to marry unhappily and to become queen. She despairs because she is not yet betrothed and the family's financial situation makes it unlikely that she will become so. Rose is given a gift of a book to be used as her diary on her fourteenth birthday.

The many lives and secret sorrows of josephine