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Historical person

Napoleon

1769–1821

Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military officer and ruler who rose during the French Revolution and became emperor of the French in 1804. His victories transformed the political map of Europe and spread institutions associated with revolutionary and Napoleonic France, while his wars imposed immense human and economic costs across the continent.

After seizing political power in the coup of 18 Brumaire, Napoleon reorganised administration, law and education and established the Civil Code. His empire reached its greatest extent after victories such as Austerlitz, but the Peninsular War and the disastrous invasion of Russia weakened it. Defeated and exiled in 1814, he returned for the Hundred Days before his final defeat at Waterloo in 1815 and exile to Saint Helena.

Adam Zamoyski’s 1812 reconstructs Napoleon’s invasion of Russia and the catastrophic retreat of the Grande Armée. Saul David’s All the King’s Men traces the development of the British soldier from the restoration of Charles II in 1660 to the defeat of Napoleon in 1815. Additional non-fiction treatment of Napoleon comes from Robert Harvey’s Bolivar, Saul David’s Great Military Commanders, Adam Zamoyski’s Holy Madness, Christopher Clark’s Iron Kingdom, and Robert Harvey’s Liberators.

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Napoleon (26 series)

Aubrey–Maturin Novels in Order

by Patrick O’Brian 21 books 4.5(73,173)

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Richard Bolitho in Order

by Alexander Kent 28 books 4.5(44,733)

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Wellington and Napoleon Quartet in Order

by Simon Scarrow 4 books 4.6(5,527)

The quartet traces the parallel lives of Arthur Wellesley and Napoleon Bonaparte from their births in 1769 to the Battle of Waterloo. It follows their military education, political ambition and campaigns across Europe, India and the Mediterranean as two very different officers become the defining commanders of the…

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Napoleonic Horseman in Order

by Griff Hosker 10 books 4.4(12,740)

Napoleonic Horseman follows a cavalryman through the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. The series moves between French and British service, espionage, the Peninsular War, sieges and Waterloo, using mounted warfare to show how individual soldiers are pulled through the largest conflicts of the age.

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Morland Dynasty in Order

by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles 36 books 4.4(27,265)

The Morland Dynasty is a thirty-six-book family saga tracing the fictional Morlands of Yorkshire from 1434 to the approach of the Second World War. Beginning with the marriage of Robert Morland and Eleanor, a ward of the Beaufort family, the sequence follows successive generations as Morland Place grows…

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Nathaniel Drinkwater in Order

by Richard Woodman 14 books 4.4(2,498)

The Nathaniel Drinkwater series follows a Royal Navy officer from his first service during the American Revolutionary War to a final mission in early Victorian Britain. Drinkwater rises from vulnerable midshipman to experienced captain while operating across the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Baltic, Arctic, Pacific and China seas. The fourteen…

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Poldark in Order

by Winston Graham 12 books 4.4(68,383)

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Thomas Kydd in Order

by Julian Stockwin 27 books 4.2(24,001)

The Thomas Kydd series follows a Guildford wig-maker pressed into the Royal Navy in 1793 and traces his rise from inexperienced landsman to admiral. Across twenty-seven novels, Kydd learns the work of the lower deck, crosses to the quarterdeck and commands increasingly important ships during the French Revolutionary…

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Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery in Order

by C. S. Harris 21 books 4.3(208,269)

The Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries follow Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, a former cavalry officer and intelligence agent who investigates murders in Regency Britain. Beginning in 1811, his cases carry him from royal palaces and Mayfair drawing rooms to prisons, docks, rookeries and country villages, where violent crimes…

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Nelson and Emma Trilogy in Order

by David Donachie 3 books 4.6(61)

The Nelson and Emma trilogy fictionalises the parallel lives of Horatio Nelson and Emma Hamilton from their difficult beginnings to the height of Nelson’s naval fame. It follows his formation in the Royal Navy and her ascent from poverty through modelling, patronage and marriage into the diplomatic society…

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Kirov Trilogy in Order

by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles 3 books 4.2(935)

The Kirov Trilogy follows three generations connected with the fictional Kirov family against the splendour and violence of Imperial Russia. Beginning in 1803, the sequence moves from the Napoleonic invasion through the Crimean War to the First World War and the Russian Revolution, linking English heroines with a…

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The Kingsbridge Novels in Order

by Ken Follett 5 books 4.4(1,703,013)

The Kingsbridge novels trace the development of a fictional English community across nearly nine centuries. Builders, merchants, clergy, landowners, labourers and reformers repeatedly contest who controls work, worship, law and education, while the town changes from an impoverished Anglo-Saxon settlement into a cathedral city and industrial centre. Chronologically,…

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Birds of Prey Sequence in Order

by various authors 10 books 4.4(76,119)

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The Nicholas Cruwys Naval Series in Order

by Adrian Westbrooke 9 books 4.5(21,063)

The Nicholas Cruwys Naval Series follows Nicholas Cruwys from his entry into the Royal Navy as a fourteen-year-old in 1774 to senior command during the wars with Revolutionary France. His career begins aboard Captain James Cook’s HMS Resolution and carries him through the closing years of the American…

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Sharpe in Order

by Bernard Cornwell 26 books 4.3(358,248)

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Alan Lewrie Naval Adventures in Order

by Dewey Lambdin 25 books 4.3(61,103)

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Alastair-Audley in Order

by Georgette Heyer 4 books 4.5(24,030)

The Alastair–Audley novels form a loose multigenerational sequence linking Georgian family drama with the Regency and the Battle of Waterloo. These Old Shades introduces Justin Alastair and Léonie, while Devil’s Cub follows the next generation through their son, Dominic. Regency Buck shifts to Judith and Peregrine Taverner under…

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Napoleonic Wars in Order

by Adrian Goldsworthy 6 books 4.3(4,354)

The Napoleonic Wars series follows officers and soldiers of the fictional 106th Regiment of Foot through Wellington’s campaigns. The novels move from the first British intervention in Spain through Moore’s retreat to Corunna, Talavera, Ciudad Rodrigo, Cádiz and Albuera, showing the war through ordinary officers rather than generals…

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Sherlock Holmes in Order

by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 9 books 4.2(1,737,543)

Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes canon follows the consulting detective and Dr John Watson through four novels and five principal short-story collections. Beginning with their meeting in A Study in Scarlet, the sequence establishes Holmes’s method of close observation, forensic experiment and deductive reasoning as he investigates murder,…

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John Pearce in Order

by David Donachie 18 books 4.2(6,934)

The John Pearce series follows a radical Londoner who is illegally pressed into the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars. Pearce and the fellow captives he calls the Pelicans must learn shipboard warfare while resisting abusive officers, pursuing freedom and protecting one another across an expanding conflict.…

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Hornblower Saga in Order

by C. S. Forester 12 books 4.3(138,286)

The Horatio Hornblower novels follow a Royal Navy officer from his first service as a midshipman during the French Revolutionary Wars to senior command after the defeat of Napoleon. The books combine shipboard life, naval combat, intelligence work, diplomacy and the practical burdens of command with Hornblower’s private…

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Keane in Order

by Iain Gale 4 books 4.1(4,737)

The Keane novels follow Captain James Keane of the 27th Foot, an unconventional officer recruited by Wellington to lead a small company of scouts, intelligence gatherers and useful misfits. Beginning in the Peninsular War in 1809, Keane operates beyond the normal security of the regiment, mapping roads, negotiating…

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Matthew Hervey in Order

by Allan Mallinson 14 books 4.2(11,911)

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Markham of the Marines in Order

by David Donachie 3 books 4.1(219)

Markham of the Marines follows Irish lieutenant George Markham, a Royal Marine officer burdened by religious prejudice and a reputation for cowardice. Given command of difficult men during the war with Revolutionary France, he must earn their loyalty through fighting ashore and at sea. The trilogy carries Markham…

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Aztec in Order

by Gary Jennings 6 books 4.2(30,419)

The Aztec sequence follows Indigenous and mixed-ancestry protagonists through five centuries of Mexican history, from the height of Tenochtitlan to the wars that ended Spanish rule. The first novel gives Mixtli’s account of the empire under Ahuitzotl and Moctezuma II and carries his life into the conquest. Later…

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Wakefield Dynasty in Order

by Gilbert Morris 7 books 4.2(644)

The Wakefield Dynasty follows two interconnected English families—the aristocratic Wakefields and the humbler Morgans—from the Reformation through the Napoleonic era. Their descendants encounter biblical translation, confessional persecution, civil war, revival religion and international conflict. The seven novels combine dynastic saga, court politics and Christian historical fiction. Historical rulers,…

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Standalone books

Standalone books featuring Napoleon (14 books)

Non Fiction

Non Fiction featuring Napoleon (29 books)

Biographies, histories and other non-fiction are listed separately from the historical novels above.