A lively jaunt through the royal courts of Europe.
An Infamous Mistress by Joanne Major and Sarah Murden
A fascinating examination of the life of well connected courtesan who reputedly bore the Prince Regent’s child.
A Right Royal Scandal: Two Marriages that Changed History by Joanne Major and Sarah Murden
One family. Two astonishing scandals.
3 books on the Georgian era I loved in 2015
Emma Hamilton, Sex and Dr Polidori
Sex in Georgian England: Attitudes and Prejudices from the 1720s to the 1820s by A. D. Harvey
Duckworth, 1994 I snapped up this book on a second-hand stall outside the BFI on the South Bank. It’s an odd one. The opening chapter “Women’s Bodies – and How Men Looked at Them” is a detailed discussion of what Georgians preferred in terms of shape and type of breast (think of those high, pillowy, […]
England’s Mistress: The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton by Kate Williams
Arrow, 2007 What a girl! Readable, imaginative account of a widely misunderstood woman. We all know someone like Emma – naive, exuberant, extravert, generous and sensual, outwardly without a care in the world. Often, as with Emma, what is not always appreciated is their apparently contradictory nature: sensitive, caring, intelligent and vulnerable. Emma, ridiculed and […]
