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Summary: Excellent Biography
Review: In short the author has managed to make the subject a person and not a chapter in the history books. She presents a balanced portrait of the Duchess, not all good and not all evil, as well as the upbringing and the society who made her what she was. Excellent Bio!
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Summary: Riveting
Review: Lady Georgiana Spencer, who became an 18th century Duchess of Devonshire, was every bit as fascinating as her descendent, Diana Spencer, the future Princess of Wales, would turn out to be.Georgiana set English society on its ear during her years as Duchess. She was a political activist in an era when the opinion of women neither was sought nor welcomed--and her influence was not inconsiderable--she had such a severe gambling problem that her losses all but bankrupted the (very rich) Duchy of Devonshire. As always, Amanda Foreman's research is impeccable, and her writing style so lively that this biography is as gripping as good fiction. In Foreman's capable hands, The Duchess is made to be as fascinating as the most interesting modern woman.
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Summary: Georgiana
Review: Not liking it at all. It is hard to stay focused when reading. The book just doesn't flow well.
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Summary: Dynasty meets the Royals 18th Century Style!
Review: Sex! Drama! Death! Politics! Power! Illegitimacy! Privilege! The life of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, reads like a movie. What a fascinating and absorbing life this woman led! To her fans and detractors, she was a beautiful, glamourous woman who exerted much power and influence. Her fashions were copied, her male friendships were gossiped about, her soirees were the parties to be seen at. Behind the scenes she was deeply unhappy, bulimic, a gambler, locked in a menage-a-trois with her husband. She embarked on a foolish love affair and paid dearly for it. Still, her adoring public loved her all the more. Parallels can (and will) be drawn to Diana, Princess of Wales, who like Georgiana came from the Spencer family. I found Foreman's book to be an interesting insight into a vanished world of privilege and wealth. If you are interested in popular history, then this is a book for you.
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Summary: More History This Good And Reading Of Fiction Will Decline
Review: That this book was The Whitbread Award Winner, and a tremendous success in The Duchess Of Devonshire's own country, is no surprise. However as an avid reader of History I was pleasantly surprised at the book's popularity here. This book was published when the Authoress Foreman was 30 years old, and was produced while she was even younger. To me this makes this Biography of Georgiana all the more impressive, as it can, and will stand with historical works by other writers twice her age and more. I also believe Ms. Foreman's youth allowed her to bring The Duchess to us as her peer in age, which allowed more objectivity, and a candid portrayal that was brutally honest but never derogatory for it's own sake. That this is the first work of Ms. Foreman's is simply amazing. History has great moments, but even the most interesting periods of time, or the life of one extraordinary life can be numbing to read. The Biographies go on forever in tedious detail that leaves the reader exhausted. Ms. Foreman writes what is necessary, she uses the space she needs, and the result is a remarkable amount of information related, in an efficient manner. Not only do we learn about The Duchess, for additionally Ms. Foreman fills her story with all manner of events surrounding the Duchess and Europe at large, to convey even more information. The life of The Duchess must be read to be appreciated. This woman filled her relatively short life with more accomplishments, and amassed more influence, that today her life is as enjoyable and impressive to experience as a reader, as it must have been exciting to witness 200 years ago. The word Renaissance is used to describe an individual of multiple talents at which they excel. The word has no more appropriate person to attach itself to. The Duchess, was there, did everything, created and set the tenor of society, and did it all to the absolute extreme. She was not perfect, but she was remarkable. Her exploits of 2 centuries ago make those of today's public figures rather pale. An excellent read, a remarkable debut, and hopefully the first in a string of work that Ms. Foreman will relate.
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Summary: Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire
Review: The only bad thing about this book is that it's inevitably going to end. If you love superbly written and beautifully researched biographies and have ANY interest whatsoever in history, you'll want to add this one to your library. The author, Amanda Foreman, is a former freelance journalist, which probably goes very far in explaining why the story is so incredibly absorbing. It reads like a novel. Typically, I actually knit while I read. With this book, I finally put my knitting aside because it was slowing down my reading! I admit to minoring in history in college, with a focus on British history, but I've learned all kinds of information that I never fully understood before. (The author also has a PhD from Oxford.) The only other biography I've read that comes close to this one was also written by another Amanda ... Amanda Vaill's Everybody was So Young. If you appreciated that one, you'll probably love reading about Amanda Foreman's Georgiana.
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Summary: Brimming with Life
Review: The Poor Little Rich Girl is a story with enduring fascination in our culture, whether it's Gloria Vanderbilt or Princess Di. First-time biographer Amanda Foreman tells an 18thcentury version of this tale that's enthralling, swift-moving, and sometimes unbelievable. At 17, aristocratic Georgiana Spencer married into one of England's wealthiest and most politically powerful families, but it was a mismatch from the very beginning. The diffident, unloving Duke of Devonshire only wanted an heir and was unable to deal with the intelligent, high-spirited, talented and immensely appealing teenager as his wife. Before long, Georgiana was involved like many aristocrats of her day in fevered, incessant, unrestrained gambling. This vice burdened her all her life, and at one point she owed today's equivalent of six million pounds. Juggling her debts and hiding them from her husband created constant stress; she took drugs, suffered miscarriages, psychosomatic ailments and an eating disorder. The Duke turned to other women, she to other men and perhaps another woman as well, who entered a strange menage a trois with the ducal couple. The public Duchess was the cynosure of a London undergoing an economic and journalistic boom. A vaunted and daring fashion-setter, she was written about, studied, admired, celebrated, lampooned in newspapers hungry for copy, and became a national celebrity. Marie Antoinette was a friend and the Prince of Wales a rumored lover. Most fascinating of all, Georgiana had a passion for politicking and her charm, benevolence and intelligence made her a political hostess and unelected politician with unusual power and influence. Foreman makes the story of Georgiana's attachment to the Whig party utterly compelling, and her explanations of Georgian politics are crystal clear. Winner of the Whitbread Prize for Biography, Foreman has a novelist's gift for painting a scene; the book is as vivid as "The Madness of King George" and as picturesquely lovely as "Barry Lyndon." Foreman's written a sprawling, hypnotic, beautifully-told and deeply affecting story of power, wealth, politics, sexual license, revolution, love and addiction that's tailor-made for a mini-series. This is an exemplary biography and the perfect summer (or winter) read.
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Summary: Another Brilliant, if Histrionic, Spencer Girl
Review: The selling point of Amanda Foreman's hugely successful "Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire" was that she hailed from the same family as Princess Diana, and that she too was beautiful, blonde and bulimic. This connection probably gave Foreman an early boost in the book sales department, but what clinched this book's bestseller status was the compelling narrative of Georgiana's life: born into one of England's most ancient and preeminent landed families, she was then married off into one of its richest: to this day, the Cavendishes (i.e, the Dukes of Devonshire) overshadow virtually all but the Royal Family in terms of inherited wealth. Georgiana, however, is a perfect specimen of the educated woman in the Age of Reason: she dabbled in politics, geology, literature gambling, adultery and Continental travel - visiting Gibbon in Geneva and then becoming fast friends with Marie Antoinette. High points of her political achievements include a political alliance with Charles James Fox, and a masterful electoral campaign, on his behalf, for the seat of Westminster. The sadder aspects of her life can be found in her unstable relationship with her own husband, her doomed relationships with other men, a strange love triangle with her live-in friend Elizabeth and a series of health crises that robbed her of her looks. One of the best biographies of the late 18th century.
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Summary: Better than any soap opera!
Review: This book has everything. Sex, royalty, power, travel, spys, false friends. It's better than Washington D.C.! Georgiana is one of the most interesting people ever to have lived and the fact that so many of her letters survive make this virtually an autobiography. Were it not for the beautifully insightful comments of her biographer, Amanda Foreman, I am sure we would be lost in a swirl of too much information. There are rarely books this interesting, and the fact that it is non-fiction is astonishing. I am reminded of how I felt after reading Les Liaisons Dangereuses: outrage, fascination, envy, awe!
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Summary: Loved this book and would read again!
Review: This book was amazing and I got it at a discounted rate at a bookstore and never thought I would fall in love with it. Amanda Foreman's writing style is vivid, easy to comprehend and specific enough to be entertaining without it being stagnate. The book was appropraitely paced and truly gave you an understanding of daily life for the Devonshires as well as London during this period. I was extremely pleased with the exaplanations in modern terms of ailments that existed during this period and exactly how trying the times were due to social constrictions. I would highly recommend this book!
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