Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOKNow a major motion picture starring Keira Knightley and Ralph FiennesLady Georgiana Spencer was the great-great-great-great-aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales, and was nearly as famous in her day. In 1774 Georgiana achieved immediate celebrity by marrying William...
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A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOKNow a major motion picture starring Keira Knightley and Ralph FiennesLady Georgiana Spencer was the great-great-great-great-aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales, and was nearly as famous in her day. In 1774 Georgiana achieved immediate celebrity by marrying William Cavendish, fifth duke of Devonshire, one of England’s richest and most influential aristocrats. She became the queen of fashionable society and founder of the most important political salon of her time. But Georgiana’s public success concealed an unhappy marriage, a gambling addiction, drinking, drug-taking, and rampant love affairs with the leading politicians of the day. With penetrating insight, Amanda Foreman reveals a fascinating woman whose struggle against her own weaknesses, whose great beauty and flamboyance, and whose determination to play a part in the affairs of the world make her a vibrant, astonishingly contemporary figure.
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Format: paperback
ISBN:
9780006550167 (0006550169)
Publish date: March 1st 2004
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Pages no: 496
Edition language: English
Category:
Non Fiction,
Biography,
History,
Literature,
European Literature,
British Literature,
Book Club,
Adult,
Politics,
Biography Memoir,
Womens,
18th Century
This is obviously a well-researched biography of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, a figure of political and social consequence from her teen years when she married the duke in 1774 to her death in 1806. The book is studded with the surviving letters by her and about her that Foreman traveled throug...
It was a good book and an interesting subject; however, the author's prose is so lifeless that it was hard to get through. I found myself struggling to keep my eyes on the page.
British Aristocracy - 18th C. Unabridged.From wiki: Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (née Spencer) 7 June 1757 – 30 March 1806 was the first wife of the 5th Duke of Devonshire, and mother of the 6th Duke of Devonshire. Her father, the 1st Earl Spencer, was a great-grandson of the 1st Duke...
Georgiana was a very interesting lady - on one hand, she was terribly insecure in her personal relationships and spent ridiculous amounts of money on gambling, while on the other, she was a loyal friend and shrewd politician in an age where women didn't have much power. She managed to hold her own ...
I loved this book. I expected it to be well-written and informative, but it was so much engaging than I ever could have anticipated. It is easy to see why Amanda Formeman might have fallen a little in love with Georgiana; indeed, it is difficult to see how anyone could fail to do so. Here is a woman...
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