I don't know how much of this 'what if' is based on fact but here's the background to it.

In the northern winter of 1814, a French armada sets sail for New South Wales. The armada's mission was
the invasion of Sydney, and its inspiration and its fate were interwoven with one of history's greatest love
stories - that of Napoleon and Josephine.

The Empress Josephine was fascinated by all things Australian. In the gardens of her grand estate, Malmaison,
she kept kangaroos, emus, black swans and other Australian animals, along with hundreds of native plants
brought back by French explorers in peacetime. And even when war raged between France and Britain, ships
known to be carrying Australian flora and fauna for 'Josephine's Ark' were given safe passage.

Napoleon, too, had an abiding interest in Australia, but for quite different reasons. What Britain and its Australian
colonies did not know was that French explorers visiting these shores, purporting to be naturalists on scientific
expeditions, were in fact spies, gathering vital information on the colony's defences. It was ripe for the picking.

The conquest of Australia was on Bonaparte's agenda for world domination, and detailed plans had been made
for the invasion, and for how French Australia would be governed. How it all came together and how it fell apart
is a remarkable tale - history with an element of the 'What if?' No less remarkable is how the tempestuous
relationship between Napoleon and his empress affected the fate of the Great Southern Land.

The book is available at WH Smith and through Amazon UK.