Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire

Publisher and industry reviews

Jacket 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

UK Kirkus review

On 8 May 1777 crowds of theatregoers could have been seen pouring into Drury Lane for the first night of R B Sheridan's new play, The School for Scandal. Among them was Georgiana Spencer, the first Earl of Spencer's 19-year-old daughter, who had married the rich Duke of Devonshire some three years before. 'When she appeared,' a French diplomat wrote of her, 'every eye was turned towards her; when absent, she was the subject of universal conversation.' She was also, in her own words, 'giddy and vain' and amusing, wildly extravagant and utterly captivating. She numbered among her close friends Sheridan, Charles James Fox, the Prince Regent, her husband's mistress Lady Elizabeth Foster, and the future prime minister, Charles Grey, by whom she had a daughter. An opponent of Pitt's administration, she canvassed vigorously on behalf of the Whigs. Yet even such a Tory as Samuel Johnson was captivated by Georgiana's charms and was more than content to have the Duchess 'hanging on his sentences and contending for the nearest place to his chair'. To this delightful woman Foreman does full justice in a highly enjoyable book - as entertaining as it is scholarly. Review by Christopher Hibbert Editor's note: Christopher Hibbert is a historian and author of Nelson: A Personal History, George IV, The Virgin Queen: The Personal History of Elizabeth I, The French Revolution and Africa Explored. (Kirkus UK)

|

Add to wish list

|

Tell a friend