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The author was very good in her details, making the book flow with each stage of the duchesses life. If you plan on watching the movie before reading this I extend a word of caution: the movie DOES NOT live up to the real life lived by the Duchess of Devonshire, which was a real disappointment. I liked this book on the colorful Duchess of Devonshire, which gave a wonderful perspective on her infamous days. I was hoping for more details on her affair with Charles Grey and how that event took off and eventually fell apart, yet it came up lacking. Watch the movie after reading the book and be the judge of the differences. From her birth to her death you feel like you are walking next to the Duchess herself, feeling the joys and immense sorrows that life throws at her. Her cold relationship with her husband and her strange relationship with Elizabeth Foster definitely shaped her into the strong and passionate person she became, certainly the most interesting woman of her time.
Despite these constant anxieties in her life, Georgiana was well-educated and deeply involved in politics. For those of us who love to read, hearing about an exciting movie adaptation makes us want to read the book. I am one such reader and this is one such book. which I can now view guilt free.
Georgiana truly jumps off the page and gives readers an appreciation of how active 18th century aristocratic women could be both socially and politically. This biography is truly worth your time, though of course I would recommend reading it before seeing the movie. While Foreman does take some liberties of omniscience, these are easily forgiven in the grand scheme of the work as a whole - her reliability as a biographer is never endangered. Generations of Spencers (yes, the same family that also brought us Princess Diana) destroyed many of her correspondences or censored parts that could have been embarrassing to them later.
I had high expectations, which I am glad to report were not disappointed. A great patron of the arts and sciences, her influence was far-reaching and she was admired as often as she was jealously envied.Her story seems to write itself, but that owes more to Foreman's skill as a biographer than to the amount of history left behind. We, the few and the proud, will sit on our literary high horses and wait to finish the book even if it means the movie is no longer in theaters. This book details her active support of the Whig party, including election canvassing, and the extent to which she directed its strategy.
Though she was for much of her life the glamorous head of the ton (the social elite) and friends with the fashion-forward Marie Antoinette, she suffered from gambling addiction, marital problems, exile from her family, and ill health. I saw a preview and was immediately drawn in, but as soon as I realized it was based upon a prize-winning biography, I immediately ordered a copy. Foreman admits to readers in her preface that during her research she became enraptured by Georgiana, which few could deny after a quick skim of her source material - how many letters, diaries, newspapers, and books she must have slogged through over the years to create this entertaining picture of the Duchess of Devonshire.In many ways, Georgiana's life was rather tragic, or I suppose as tragic as a life can be when part of the late 18th century aristocracy.
The pictures included were, of course, from paintings, but excellent reproductions, for a paper back book. Amanda Foreman has made Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire come alive for me in her excellently researched book. Georgian was a brilliant and fascinating woman and Amanda Foreman has made her come alive in this book. I would highly recommed this book to anyone who wants to know more about how they lived, how they coped. The Bibliography was outstanding and she really did her homework. It is probably one of the best books I have ever read about the aristocracy and real people and of the times in which Georgiana lived.
Amanda Foreman is an outstanding biographer. As readable and absorbing as a great novel, The Duchess of Devonshire develops the story and character of Georgiana, a woman of great gifts and great flaws against the background of Regency England.
Although I love reference books, historical novels, the History Channel, and Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, this book reminds me more of the difficult War and Peace. The book is based on dissertation research, and it shows.not an easy read.
I was amazed to find that our country could very well exist because of Georgiana's quiet intervention with the Prince of Wales to keep the Whig party in power just in time to thwart George III's bid to reconquer the colonies. But very enlightening if you can stand it.
When I asked for this book at the library, it was checked out until the 20th of Jan., yet was returned on the 13th. There were many similar names, people had children with their spouses, with mistresses, lovers, and often adopted and/or raised each others' children, inherited new titles at the deaths of relatives, and so on until it became an exhausting chore to keep track of everyone and what happened to them.
She also was the one who brought the Whigs together at the end of her life to outlaw slavery.Who knew. I quickly found out why.
Most of the story is revealed through letter quotes and so many characters are introduced, along with with their background histories, that I soon found myself constantly backtracking to identify people being mentioned.
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