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The bestselling author and historian Lisa Hilton picks up the
mythical 'City of Ladies' where the medieval writer Christine de
Pisan left off, continuing a conversation about gender and
greatness that began more than six hundred years ago. In 1405
Christine de Pisan took up the pen to defend her maligned sex. Her
book, The City of Ladies, was built around preserving women's
reputations from the slights and misunderstandings of history. In
it the author is visited by three spirits - Justice, Rectitude and
Reason - who guide her in sifting through countless lives, in
search of worthy citizens. Over 600 years later, the historian and
novelist Lisa Hilton picks up the book and promptly falls asleep,
only to be visited by three great women from history: Cleopatra,
Lucrezia Borgia and Catherine the Great. And they aren't happy.
Having found themselves barred from the original 'City of Ladies',
they want to know why. And isn't it time, they ask, for a new
author to take up the pen? What follows is a reassessment of the
past, in which deeds and reputations, rumours and reality are held
up to the light, and history is wrested back from the distortions
of misogyny.
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Mary Anne (Paperback, New ed)
Daphne Du Maurier; Introduction by Lisa Hilton
1
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R306
R251
Discovery Miles 2 510
Save R55 (18%)
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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In Regency London, the only way for a woman to succeed is to beat
men at their own game. So when Mary Anne Clarke seeks an escape
from her squalid surroundings in Bowling Inn Alley, she ventures
first into the scurrilous world of the pamphleteers. Her personal
charms are such, however, that before long she comes to the notice
of the Duke of York. With her taste for luxury and power, Mary
Anne, now a royal mistress, must aim higher. Her lofty connections
allow her to establish a thriving trade in military commissions,
provoking a scandal that rocks the government - and brings personal
disgrace. A vivid portrait of overweening ambition, MARY ANNE is
set during the Napoleonic Wars and based on du Maurier's own
great-great-grandmother.
- As biography, as history, as a rich story superbly told, ATHENAIS
will appeal to readers of Antonia Fraser, Amanda Foreman, Francine
du Plessix Gray, and Alison Weir.- ATHENAIS quickly sold through
three hardcover printings.
The compelling love story of two extraordinary individuals - Nancy
Mitford and Free French commander Gaston Palewski - living in
extraordinary times - immortalised in THE PURSUIT OF LOVE 'A
delicious mix of drama, melancholy and enchantment' DAILY EXPRESS
'Entertainingly caustic' SUNDAY TIMES 'Bringing to life the worlds
of Nancy Mitford's novels' INDEPENDENT 'Oh, the horror of love!'
Nancy Mitford once exclaimed. Elegant and intelligent, Nancy was a
reknowned wit and a popular author. Yet this bright, waspish woman,
capable of unerring emotional analysis in her work gave her heart
to a well-known philanderer who went on to marry another woman. Was
Nancy that unremarkable thing - a deluded lover - or was she a
remarkable woman engaged in a sophisticated love affair? Gaston
Palewski, was the Free French commander and one of the most
influential politicians in post-war Europe. His and Nancy's mutual
life was spent amongst the most exciting, powerful and
controversial figures in the centre of reawakening Europe. She
supported him throughout his tumultuous career and he inspired some
of her best work, including The Pursuit of Love. Lisa Hilton's
provocative book reveals how, with discipline, gentleness and a
great deal of elegance, Nancy Mitford and Gaston Palewski achieved
a very adult ideal.
England from the perspective of its consort queens - a distaff
history of the nation from 1066 to 1503. England's medieval queens
were elemental in shaping the history of the nation. In an age
where all politics were family politics, dynastic marriages placed
English queens at the very centre of power - the king's bed. From
Matilda of Flanders, the Conqueror's queen, to Elizabeth of York,
the first Tudor consort, England's queens fashioned the nature of
monarchy and influenced the direction of the state. Occupying a
unique position in the mercurial, often violent world of medieval
state-craft, English queens had to negotiate a role that combined
tremendous influence with terrifying vulnerability. Lisa Hilton's
meticulously researched new book explores the lives of the twenty
women who were crowned queen between 1066 and 1503, reconsidering
the fictions surrounding well-known figures like Eleanor of
Aquitaine and illuminating the lives of forgotten figures such as
Adeliza of Louvain. War, adultery, witchcraft, child abuse, murder
- and occassionally even love - formed English queenship, but so
too did patronage, learning and fashion. Lisa Hilton considers the
evolution of the queenly office alongside intimate portraits of the
individual women, dispelling the myth that medieval brides were no
more than diplomatic pawns.
A definitive portrait of one of the most compelling monarchs
England has ever had: Elizabeth I. 'We are a prince from a line of
princes.' Lisa Hilton's majestic biography of Elizabeth I, 'The
Virgin Queen', uses new research to present a fresh interpretation
of Elizabeth as a queen who saw herself primarily as a Renaissance
prince, delivering a very different perspective on her emotional
and sexual life, and upon her attempts to mould England into a
European state. Elizabeth was not an exceptional woman but an
exceptional ruler, and this book challenges readers to reassess her
reign, and the colourful drama, scandal and intrigue to which it is
always linked.
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