Katie Hickman has done it again. The author of the bestselling
Daughters of Britannia has produced another fascinating read in
this biography of five stars of the demi-monde. Her period is 'the
long nineteenth century', the 150 years which lie between her first
courtesan, Sophia Baddeley, who died in 1786, and her last,
Catherine Walters, who died in 1920. All were Englishwomen, but
Cora Pearl, Hickman's fourth subject, also cut a swathe through
masculine French society. Hickman gives several definitions of the
word 'courtesan', the most interesting of which is that of 'the
ultimate luxury good'. She maintains that the lives of these women
were their art, and what masterpieces they were: high living, high
society and reckless extravagance. (Sophia Baddeley once spent 700
pounds in an afternoon, the equivalent of #45,000 today, and that
was just a beginning.) The courtesans' jewels, wardrobes, houses
and stables were all legendary; they were the slightly shady
celebrities of their era. People flocked to see them at the theatre
or in Rotten Row, despite the fact that their way of life meant
that they were forever excluded from 'respectable' circles.
Courtesans were complex and courageous individuals. In their desire
for autonomy they were very prepared to flout convention, and were
gamblers at heart, for such freedom usually lasted only as long as
their looks and youth did. There are some sad stories here, but
also one very moving one, that of Charles James Fox, the Whig
grandee, who formed a lasting and reciprocated attachment to the
beautiful Elizabeth Armistead. That courtesans were pursued because
of their expertise in the bedroom is a simplistic view: they were
also valued for their intelligence, wit, charm, grace and style. We
shall not see their like again. (Kirkus UK)
'Irresistible...history at its most human. Elegant and addictively
readable.' William Dalrymple During the course of the 18th- and
19th-century a small group of women rose from impoverished
obscurity to positions of great power, independence and wealth. In
doing so they took control of their lives - and those of other
people - and made the world do their will. Men ruined themselves in
desperate attempts to gain and retain a courtesan's favours, but
she was always courted for far more than sex. In an age in which
women were generally not well educated she was often unusually
literate and literary, courted for her conversation as well as her
physical company. Courtesans were extremely accomplished, and
exerted a powerful influence as leaders of fashion and society.
They were not received at Court, but inhabited their own parallel
world - the demi-monde - complete with its own hierarchies,
etiquette and protocol. They were queens of fashion, linguists,
musicians, accomplished at political intrigue and, of course,
possessors of great erotic gifts. Even to be seen in public with
one of the great courtesans was a much-envied achievement. In
'Courtesans' Katie Hickman, author of the bestselling 'Daughters of
Britannia', focuses on the exceptional stories of five outstanding
women. Sophia Baddeley, Elizabeth Armistead, Harriette Wilson, Cora
Pearl and Catherine Walters may have had very different
personalities and talents, but their lives exemplify the dazzling
existence of the courtesan.
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