With an author like Prince Lorenzo Borghese, an animal cosmetics entrepreneur, playboy, reality TV contestant and descendant of one of the wealthiest families in Italy, expectations may be placed low on his next venture: historical fiction novel "The Princess of Nowhere." However, Lorenzo Borghese’s heritage helps him weave the story of his paternal descendants Princess Pauline Bonaparte Borghese and Prince Camillo Borghese into a fascinating read.
The lives of these two pawns of great European families are sewn together in a marriage that aligns the French Bonaparte and Italian Borghese powerhouses. Yet, even with all the political weight this marriage carries, the Borghese prince can’t help but fall in love with the openly sexual, charming, vain and passionate Pauline.
She is impure and infuriates him, but their love continues throughout the novel, even in the times of strain of their marriage. To know Pauline was to be captivated by and love her, as seen through the eyes of her distant cousin, lady in waiting and narrator of the novel, Sophie Leclerc. From the time she was sent to live with her widowed cousin Pauline and until Pauline’s death, Sophie worshipped Pauline throughout her temperamental fits and her tender moments. Pauline kept her husband and Sophie enthralled, even if she was unfaithful and could not be counted on at any moment.
One disclaimer about this book is the racy sexual content it contains. Explicit in his details, Lorenzo Borghese does not spare the reader any wild love affairs or intimate moments with her husband that Pauline had. The Princess of Nowhere ends on a poignant note that made me fight back a few tears. Pauline’s selfish nature is peeled back to reveal a woman who dearly loved her husband and the opportunities he provided to her.
On her deathbed she requests to be buried next to Camillo, whom she had been separated from for many years. He commissions a marble statue as a testament to her beauty, and the young girl who fought so hard to be a true princess coming from simple origins. Pauline is admired today; her statue still sits in the Galleria Borghese, just as she would have wanted it.
