The Death of Napoleon; Simon Leys

"In this deliciously sardonic fable, Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from imprisonment on the isle of St. Helena. Leys writes an elegant, precise prose that ironically evokes the Napoleonic age. His exquisite tale, a gem of a book, can be read as a parable on the folly of hero-worship, the perils of self-justifying notions of destiny and the vanity of all human striving."--Publisher's Weekly