Rating: 
Summary: Unique for her time
Review: I confess that I had no idea who Georgiana was before I picked up this biography, but I was so fascinated by this woman that I had a difficult time laying it aside.Georgiana was a trendsetter extraordinaire of her day. She freely experimented with fashion, regularly made all the gossip columns and gambled away more than one fortune, sums of money staggering even by today's standards. What I found particularly impressive about her was her grasp of and influence upon political matters. She actively campaigned for candidates, something previously unheard of for a woman in the 18th century. You'll need a baseball score card to keep track of the romantic entanglements. For example, Georgiana's best friend, with whom some believed she had a lesbian relationship, gave birth to Georgiana's husband's child. And those politicians she hobnobbed with? You've heard the old saying that politics makes strange bedfellows? When reading this book, you may take that saying literally. The tidbits of rumor and innuendo thrown in by Forman helped to make this biography very readable. Well-researched, gossipy but scholarly, Amanda Forman did her homework before putting Georgiana to press.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful book
Review: I just loved this book. I learned a lot about the time, and about an amazing women. I found the book to be heart-wrenching and sad. I love and hate Georginia. She is the most dynamic person I've read about in a long time. I only wish I could have known her.
Rating: 
Summary: Great bio, mindnumbing details
Review: I purchased this book based on numerous reviews (both here and elsehwere) and while I found the story of Georgiana fascinating, the book's overwhelming political passages forced me to put it down numerous times. I eventually abandoned it about 2/3 of the way through because I found myself paging through until I was beyond sections about Georgiana's political involvements. The author does a wonderful job of giving us the flavor of Georgiana's life and personality. However, if you only have a passing interest/knowledge (as I do) or no knowledge of English political history, I'd say to pass this one up.
Rating: 
Summary: Good story, pathetic subject
Review: I purchased this book to get some perspective of 18th c. England from an aristocrat's life. Amanda Foreman seems to have done extensive research on her subject. She presents the Duchess in such a way as to interest and entertain a 21st c. reader. The story begins before Georgiana's debut, her marriage, everything else in between and finally to her death. As Lady Georgiana Spencer (great-great-great etc. aunt of the late Diana, Princess of Wales), she was born with birth, fortune and connections. She marries the Duke of Devonshire whose material advantages are even greater than hers. From an innocent bride (whose new husband already had a child by his 1st mistress) she becomes a popular figure in society due to her personality, sense of fashion and position. All the excesses of the partying peers are here:sex (adultery, lesbianism, what-have-you), alcohol and gambling. I felt for her in the beginning; virtually ignored by the Duke, she did her best to please everyone, her mother, her friends, the hangers-on and whoever came her way. I thought of her as pathetic when she gambled obsessively ($6 million dollars almost 300 years ago?), lied about it constantly and was in debt to the end. What I found repulsive was her reliance and friendship on a woman who was her husband's mistress, Lady Bess. The latter lived with them along with her children with the Duke, used the Devonshire's money and stayed on to marry the Duke himself. Jealous of Georgiana, she did all to promote and advance herself. Georgiana was passionate in her loyalties, but her energies and talents were wasted on people who used her. The strength of her loyalties made her spineless and malleable. I felt frustration for her because at every turn, when a decent relationship with her husband could be had (and he forgave her on several occasions) she would fall in love with someone else. She loved her children and this was her redeeming quality. If not for that, her life was a waste.
Rating:
Summary: my review
Review: I thouroughly enjoyed this biography. Not only the character that was chosen by the author, but also the time period. By choosing Georgian, Duchess of Devonshire, the author has capitalized not only on a very famous person in english history, but also on the family history with Diana, Princess of Wales. You cannot help but make the "rapprochements" between the lives of these two women. The Duchess, although she lived in a time where women where not allowed to enter politics, was successful in influencing politicians as well as the public. She saw and understood the importance of appearances with the public. The same happened with Diana, although she always fought the "paparazzi", she always knew the power they had on the general public. The author has written a brilliant biography. She takes you through the subject's early life but during her adult life, she strives to make you understand the complexity of the Duchess. On the one hand she was sensitive and intelligent, on the other hand she was an addict, be it to gambling or to love. Very good book, and if you enjoy reading about history, you will enjoy this one in particular.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent read!
Review: I truly enjoyed this book! Try as I might, I couldn't put it down until I had finished the last page. It is superbly researched, with plenty of citations and hints for further reading, which I appreciated. The inclusion of excerpts from Georgiana's own letters gives the reader a strong idea of this interesting woman's personality - she still speaks to us today! I do not regret purchasing this book!
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I was really looking forward to this book. The reviews I had read of this book made Georgiana out to to be sexually risque and controversial. Either the author didn't go into enough detail, or the reviewers were reading between the lines. Actually, the real controversy comes in some of the well-blacked-out sections of Georgiana's correspondance. The letters written from and to Georgiana made me long for a return to letter writing in this computer age we live in. Georgiana definitely was an interesting individual. She had a friendship with Marie Antoinette before the French Revolution (rumored to be lesbian in nature). A color, Devonshire brown, was created by Georgiana. I also fell in love with Georgiana's wardrobe. Georgiana seems to be a Scarlett O'Hara of world history. However, I was very disappointed at the lack of editorial work on the novel. I've never read a book before that I wanted to send back to the author with corrections (especially for comma problems). I skimmed the last part of the book because it became rather dry and boring.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I was really looking forward to this book. The reviews I had read of this book made Georgiana out to to be sexually risque and controversial. Either the author didn't go into enough detail, or the reviewers were reading between the lines. Actually, the real controversy comes in some of the well-blacked-out sections of Georgiana's correspondance. The letters written from and to Georgiana made me long for a return to letter writing in this computer age we live in. Georgiana definitely was an interesting individual. She had a friendship with Marie Antoinette before the French Revolution (rumored to be lesbian in nature). A color, Devonshire brown, was created by Georgiana. I also fell in love with Georgiana's wardrobe. Georgiana seems to be a Scarlett O'Hara of world history. However, I was very disappointed at the lack of editorial work on the novel. I've never read a book before that I wanted to send back to the author with corrections (especially for comma problems). I skimmed the last part of the book because it became rather dry and boring.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Bloody Fantastic
Review: I would like to congratulate Ms Foreman on a book that I could not put down. I can't wait to see if she writes another book. Please hurry up !
Rating:
Summary: Almost too sad to read
Review: If you already know how the story ends, it's difficult to watch her throwing all her gifts away. Beautiful, charming, intelligent, rich, well-connected: she should have been happy in spite of that stick of a husband. Otherwise, it's a wonderful biography. "Prince of Pleasure", Saul David's biography of Georgiana's great friend the Prince of Wales, is a good companion piece to this. Between the two, you get a vivid picture of life among the bon ton during this period. (And you don't have to feel anything like as sorry for Prinny as for Georgiana.)
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