1814. Upon arriving on the Isle of Elba, where he has been exiled, Napoleon is welcomed with enthusiasm by the island's populace and notables. Martino Papucci, the youngest son of a family of tradesmen of Portoferraio, school teacher, idealist and libertarian, budding poet and lover of baroness Emilia, instead hates the ex dictator and dreams of killing him in revenge for having betrayed the revolutionary ideals and in revenge for the thousands of young boys sent out to be slaughtered on the battlefields across Europe. And so when he is offered the post of clerk and librarian of the new "King of Elba", he accepts with the secret intention of finally accomplishing his plan. But the tyrranicidal feat proves to be more complicated than expected;. In the boredom of exile and probably having perceived the young revolutionary's hostility, Napoleon amuses himself in deceiving the young man into believing that he is a pathetically declining hero, defeated, tired and repentant. Up to the mocking and surprising final disappointment.
From the novel N by Ernesto Ferrero