Memorie di Emma Lyonna, vol. 5/8

by Alexandre Dumas

"Memorie di Emma Lyonna, vol. 5/8" by Alexandre Dumas is a historical novel written in the mid-19th century. Told in the first person by Emma Lyonna (Lady Hamilton), it interweaves romance, politics, and war as she recounts her connection with Admiral Nelson and her entanglement in the Neapolitan court during the French Revolutionary upheavals. The story centers on Emma, Nelson, Queen Maria Carolina, King Ferdinand, and Sir William Hamilton, moving between royal favor, espionage, and crackdowns on revolutionaries. The opening of the book frames Emma’s fascination with Nelson, then swiftly recounts his rough, ambitious rise at sea and his triumphant reception in Naples. As news of the French Revolution darkens the court—especially after Marie Antoinette’s execution—Maria Carolina vows vengeance; reports arrive of Toulon’s fall, attributed to a young officer named Bonaparte, and Captain Caracciolo brings grim details. The king postures and evades responsibility, while the regime seizes church goods and bank funds, and a sacrilegious incident at the Carmine leads to the execution of a likely madman, inflaming tensions. Amid this, Nelson loses an eye at Calvi; a spectacular Vesuvian eruption strikes terror in Naples, and a mysterious stranger saves the queen and Emma from a runaway carriage. The section closes with the State Junta condemning three very young “Jacobins,” Emma pleading for mercy, and the queen quietly setting a plan in motion—arming Emma with a prison order and the address of a condemned youth’s father—just as Emma is sent out into the night to begin.