I've finally finished validating Desiree and have uploaded it. I'm sorry it took so long. Sarah did an excellent job of scanning and pre-validating, marking words she wasn?t sure of with an asterisk and marking pages that had to be rescanned. There was little fixing to do, just some missing words here and there, but I enjoyed the opportunity to read it again, I didn't realize that it was written as diary pages, but I enjoyed it as much as I did 50 years ago (my, time goes quickly), even though the style seems a little strange compared to some other historical novels, perhaps because it was translated from the German, or because of the diary style ? although one gets used to it quickly. Desiree met Napoleon before he became famous and was engaged to him before he met Josephine. Eventually she married Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, first a general, then a marshall of the French Republic, and ultimately king of Sweden; they and founded the Swedish royal dynasty. This is a historical novel ostensibly about her life but more about Napoleon and the history and the details of his life and life in France between 1794-1829 (after the Revolution of 1789, from the period of the First Republic). I looked up Bernadotte on line at one point ? the impression history seems to have of him , before he became king, at least from two sources, is not as favorable as he?s portrayed here, nor does he look as I imagined him. I like this better ? and so apparently does the autor. I hope those of you who like historical fiction enjoy it. It?s an almost-600 page book, and 50 years old, but the historical facts are , and it?s an interesting way to learn about that period of time. Toward the end of the book there?s a brief section about Lafayette ? I?d never wondered what happened to him after our revolution and his return to France, but it was interesting to learn. Because we thought it would be easier to find in the collection, we left the accents off the title. English rather than American spelling of words. Also, there are a lot of diacritical marks in the French, German and Swedish names. I will keep the file. If Braille readers and/or listeners find that these don?t translate and make enjoyment of the book difficult I can re-submit without any such marks. Or I can submit a duplicate copy without the marks. Cindy -- _______________________________________________ Find what you are looking for with the Lycos Yellow Pages http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/default.asp?SRC=lycos10