Napoleon’s Return from Elba, 1815

Napoleon landed near Golfe-Juan on 1 March 1815 with a small force and advanced north through the Alps rather than risk the strongly royalist Rhône valley. His progress became known as the Flight of the Eagle or the Route Napoléon as soldiers sent to stop him instead rallied to their former emperor.

At Laffrey, Napoleon confronted troops ordered to block his advance and won them over without a battle. Grenoble opened its gates, Marshal Ney changed sides, and Louis XVIII left Paris before Napoleon entered the capital on 20 March. The rapid collapse of the Bourbon response restored the empire but also triggered the War of the Seventh Coalition.

The Bronze Eagle begins with the landing and follows Bonapartist and royalist characters through Grenoble and Napoleon’s return to Paris. Orczy interweaves the documented march with a fictional struggle over money removed from Empress Marie Louise’s convoy and the rival loyalties of the Cambray household.