Storm & Shelter, the new Bluestocking Belles With Friends box set, has an interesting political backdrop. Our heroes, heroines, villains, and other characters are caught up in a massive storm off the North Sea, which begins with steady rain on 31st March, steadily worsening until the early hours of 1st April, and rampaging for two days, only finally dying away on the 3rd of April. Meanwhile, a storm of a different kind is gathering in Europe.

After eleven months in exile on the island of Elba, the Emperor Napoleon was once again on the move. He landed at Cannes on the 1st of March, leading 1,500 men. On 7th of March, his path was intercepted by the 5th Regiment, who had been ordered to stop him. He approached them on his own, shouting, “Here I am. Kill your emperor if you wish!” The soldiers rallied to him, and joined the march on Paris. On 14th March, Marshall Ney, who had been ordered to arrest Napoleon, joined him with 6,000 men. By the time Napoleon entered Paris on 20th of March,  Louis XVIII had fled the capital in terror. The period known as Cent Jours, or One Hundred Days, had begun.

The crisis in Europe and the confrontation between Napoleon and his 200,000 men and the Seventh Coalition (Prussia, Britain, Austria and Russia) would end in the Battle of Waterloo on 18th June. Napoleon abdicated for the second time on 22nd June, in favour of his son. On 8th July, Louis XVIII was returned to his throne and Cent Jours was over.

Napoleon finally surrendered on 15th July, and was exiled to St Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died six years later.

In the eight novellas of Storm & Shelter, quite a few of our characters are on the move because of Napoleon’s bid to take back his empire. You’ll recognise them when you see them!