The Duchess ' There were three people in her marriage '

Product Description
Review'Mesmerizing' Antonia Fraser, Literary Review 'Well-written, extensively researched and highly readable! Gripping' Stella Tillyard, Mail on Sunday 'An outstanding debut by a young biographer fully in control of her sources, and with an easy and elegant writing style' Roy Strong, Sunday Times 'A pungent, intimate blend of biography and history ... a provocative contribution to our understanding of women of the past.' Jenny Uglow, Independent 'Packed with fascinating information and grippingly good' Lisa Jardine, BBC History magazine 'Real-life glamour, peppered with a menage a trois and a dose of depression ... Curl up and devour it.' Elle 'A gorgeous Whig romp ... [and] a serious, as well as seriously enjoyable historical biography'


Antonia Fraser, Sunday Times

'Excellent and fascinating' Sunday Telegraph 'From this very entertaining account emerges a vibrant picture of late eighteenth-century life and politics, and the portrait of a rare and highly talented woman.' Observer 'A sparkling biography' Marie Claire

'Brilliantly researched, compellingly told, this is biography of the first order' Daily Telegraph Antonia Fraser, Sunday Times`A gorgeous Whig romp ... [and] a serious, as well as seriously enjoyable historical biography'


Marie Claire

`A sparkling biography'

Sunday Telegraph

`Excellent and fascinating'

Observer

`From this very entertaining account emerges a vibrant picture of late eighteenth-century life and politics, and the portrait of a rare and highly talented woman.' 'Has all the ingredients of a popular period drama... portray(ed) with insight and approaches the status of 18th-century women sensitively.'

Times

'the definitive biography of Georgiana Spencer... the weft and the warp of aristocratic Georgian life in all it's glory.'

Product Description

Sex, intrigue and adultery in the world of high politics and huge wealth in late eighteenth-century England. Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, was one of the most flamboyant and influential women of the eighteenth century. The great-great-great-great aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales, she was variously a compulsive gambler, a political savante and operator of the highest order, a drug addict, an adulteress and the darling of the common people. This authoritative, utterly absorbing book presents a mesmerizing picture of a fascinating world of political and sexual intrigues, grand houses, huge parties, glamour and great wealth -- always on the edge of being squandered by the excesses and scandals of individuals. Georgiana's extraordinary life has now been made into a major film - starring Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes - which is due for release in summer 2008.

Synopsis

Sex, intrigue and adultery in the world of high politics and huge wealth in late eighteenth-century England. Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, was one of the most flamboyant and influential women of the eighteenth century. The great-great-great-great aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales, she was variously a compulsive gambler, a political savante and operator of the highest order, a drug addict, an adulteress and the darling of the common people. This authoritative, utterly absorbing book presents a mesmerizing picture of a fascinating world of political and sexual intrigues, grand houses, huge parties, glamour and great wealth -- always on the edge of being squandered by the excesses and scandals of individuals. Georgiana's extraordinary life has now been made into a major film - starring Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes - which is due for release in summer 2008.

From the Back Cover

`A FASCINATING PORTRAYAL OF A REMARKABLE WOMAN' Sunday Time
Beautiful, glamorous and charismatic, Georgina, Duchess of Devonshire, was an icon of her age, she was also a compulsive gambler, an influential political operator, a drug addict, a doting mother and an adulteress.
In a world of decadence and excess, of great houses, extravagant parties and sexual intrigue, Georgina, like her descendent, Princess of Wales, was publicly adored but personally troubled. From her complex ménage à trios with her husband and best friend to her vast gambling debts; from her adoration of her children to her passionate but doomed love for Earl Grey, she was a fascinating, contradictory woman whose story still resonates today.

About the Author

Amanda Foreman is the daughter of Carl Foreman (director of High Noon, The Bridge On the River Kwai, Born Free). She was born in 1968, grew up on film sets and is now a research fellow at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. She has written for various publications, including the New York Times.