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Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (Hardcover)

by Amanda Foreman (Author)
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 463 pages
  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd; First Edition edition (18 May 1998)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0002556685
  • ISBN-13: 978-0002556682
  • Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16.2 x 4.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 156,758 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #71 in  Books > Biography > Historical > Britain > Georgian to Victorian: 1701-1900

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

Georgiana Spencer was, in a sense, an 18th-century "It Girl". She came from one of England's richest and most landed families, and married into another. She was, beautiful, sensitive, and extravagant. Acquainted fairly young with Charles James Fox, her move from parties to Parties led her to become the intimate of ministers and princes, and she canvassed assiduously for the Whig cause, most famously in the Westminster election of 1784. By turns she was caricatured and fawned on by the press, and she provided the inspiration for Lady Teazle in Sheridan's School For Scandal. But, luckily for her biographer, she also had weaknesses that were to taint her life.

As gin gripped the masses, so gambling thralled the aristocracy. By 1784 Georgiana owed "many, many, many thousands", and the creditors she acquired dogged her until her death, but the sterility of her marriage meant that she never came close to disclosing the magnitude of her debts. Amanda Foreman describes astutely the mess that was personal relationships for the aristocratic subculture (Georgiana and the Duke engaged for many years in a ménage à trois with Lady Elizabeth Fraser, who inveigled her way into his bed and her heart). She is, by her own admission, a little in love with her subject, which can lead to occasional lapses of perspective, but generally it adds zest to a narrative built on, rather than burdened by, scholarship, that is at once accessible and learned. An impressive debut, in every sense. --David Vincent

Review

Andrew Roberts, bestselling author of Eminent Churchillians, has given this advance praise in a letter to the author: 'A super book which will become a bestseller and will make your name as a serious biographer and author'
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Customer Reviews

25 Reviews
5 star:
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 (11)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (2)
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Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (25 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An exhaustively researched yet highly accessible book, 9 Jan 2005
This review is from: Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (Paperback)
I found this absolutely compelling; I simply couldn't put it down. I found the politcal angle paticularly absorbing; the extra juice was just an added bonus! I also loved how Foreman points the reader to the ironies which pepper Georgina's life.It's really got me hooked on 18thc social and political history. I'm lucky enough to have a history degree, but this book is so accessible you don't need one; Foreman just guides through giving you all extra info without sounding patronising. This has to be the best researched biography I've read... if only my academic reading was as fun.
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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A book that doesn't talk down to its readers, 28 Jan 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (Paperback)
I often feel that books aimed at the general reader, ie, someone like me who did not go to university, assume that we are all thickwits who can't tell the difference between good and bad writing. The one thing I loved about Georgiana is that the book has all the quality of academic history while at the same time being very entertaining. Although at times I had to concentrate really hard on a lot of unfamiliar information, I also felt I was getting the real thing. I loved this book and I am now looking for others just like it. I never had a chance to learn about history when I was younger but it seems to me that it's possible to make up for it when authors such as Amanda Foreman write books that are for everybody. Having read this book, I know that I can at least talk about women in the eighteenth century and not sound completely ignorant.
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars a well-crafted, sympathetic and vivid portrayal, 21 Dec 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (Paperback)
Clearly well-researched, this biography of one of the eighteenth century's most enigmatic figures conveys vividly the tumultous world of eighteenth century politics alongside that of Georgiana's private life. A pioneer in women's involvement in politics, her role as a campaigner and society hostess placed her in the centre of the Whig party throughout its years of opposition; prominent men instinctively sought her advice. As well as highlighting G's pivotal political role, Foreman succeeds in capturing the moral ambiguity of the age in the private dilemmas her heroine faces: a hopeless addiction to gaming, her husband's mistress being her best friend, forcing to choose between her lover and her children etc. Although from an age difficult to empathise with, Foreman never the less makes G and her world instantly accessible. An Interesting and insightful read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars film only scratches the surface!
what a life! very interesting and entertaining, cannot put it down.
The film lead me to the book but the film only scratches the surface of Georgiana's fabulous and... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Gemma Baseley

4.0 out of 5 stars A woman who created her own time
Meticulously researched from original material this book vividly brings to life the social environment in which young aristocratic woman belonged. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Riverside Reader

4.0 out of 5 stars AN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY WOMAN OF NOTE...
This is much richer fare than the film adaptation of the book, which I saw before reading the book. The author does a remarkable job of creating a woman of flesh and blood out of... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Lawyeraau

4.0 out of 5 stars "A female pioneer in electoral politics"
This is a review of the original hardback edition of 1998. Whilst on a visit to Chatsworth during the time of the release of the movie `The Duchess' I had purchased a new... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Nicholas Casley

4.0 out of 5 stars How the present shapes our representation of the past?
Foreman started researching this book in the early 90s, precisely the time that Princess Diana's marriage fell apart and a lot of skeletons fell out of the royal closet but,... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Roman Clodia

1.0 out of 5 stars Too many quotes...
I was disappointed by this book. This boigraphy is not partial enough.On the other hand the book contains many quotes and would be good if you are intersted in the politics of the... Read more
Published 9 months ago by F. J. M. Vallaeys

5.0 out of 5 stars georgina duchess of devonshire by amanda foreman
having seen the film the duchess which is based on this book
it was very interesting to read and see how close to the book the film was
Published 9 months ago by Mr. D. G. Rose

1.0 out of 5 stars No analysis
As an historian and avid reader of a wide variety of non-fiction subject matter, especially biography, I found this book to be tedious and dull, consisting as it does of a surfeit... Read more
Published 11 months ago by C. Logan

1.0 out of 5 stars Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire
As someone who enjoys biographies, autobiographies and historical fact and fiction, I was keen to read this book that had been chosen for our reading group. Read more
Published 11 months ago by J. Wilkinson

2.0 out of 5 stars A great disappointment
Although 'Georgiana' is competently written and well-researched, I am frankly amazed that it has achieved such massive success and popularity since its first publication ten years... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Martin S. Williams

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