For Love of Glory: The Emma Hamilton Story
Leslie Fish takes on the inevitable task of completing Bradda Field’s Bride of Glory, which ended begging for a sequel that never materialized. For Love of Glory: The Emma Hamilton Story begins with Emma, her husband Ambassador Lord William Hamilton, and Lord Nelson on their meandering return to England on the heels of Nelson’s victories over Napoleon. Emma is pregnant with Nelson’s child and her husband is disturbingly accommodating. Sir William refers to the trio “tria juncta in uno; the three joined in one.”
During the ambling return to England, the tria juncta enjoy their final days of personal peace. The arrival in England looms in the near future, as Emma’s pregnancy becomes increasingly obvious and Lord Nelson a married man. Without a doubt, the public scorn will turn on Emma, the certainty of which she seems blissfully unaware.
I had a difficult time deciding if the pitiful, bland persona of Emma Hamilton was true to life or a sign of Fish’s disinterest in finishing another author’s work. In the end I decided that it was Emma herself that embodied all the traits so infuriating in many women. She is naïve, lacking self-control as well as the ability to act in her own best interest. Emma is merely the beautiful creature on the arm of a man and wants for nothing more. All in all, an interesting look at the end of Emma’s life, her glory days spent and her appraisal of what is left.
