Charterhouse of Parma

Fabrizio del Dongo is seventeen, half in love with Napoleon, and desperate to see a real battlefield - so he runs off to Waterloo and gets exactly what he wanted, confused, terrifying, and nothing like the glory he pictured. What follows is a long education in the far more dangerous game of Italian court politics, prison, and a love affair conducted partly through a telescope, as Fabrizio tries to...