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Georgiana, Duchess Of Devonshire
by Amanda Foreman | Biographies & Memoirs
Registered by AliceF of Coventry, Warwickshire United Kingdom on Friday, June 09, 2006
Average 6 star rating by BookCrossing Members 

status (set by rosiewhippet): travelling


This book is in the wild! This Book is Currently in the Wild!

7 journalers for this copy...

Journal Entry 1 by AliceF from Coventry, Warwickshire United Kingdom on Friday, June 09, 2006

This book has not been rated.

BOOK RING: This ring is currently open. Members are as follows (if you wish to join, please PM me and I will add you!):

  • CaterinaAnna
  • Miss-R
  • Starry-Starry
  • Candy-is-dandy
  • RubyBlueLady
  • with rosiewhippet since 27 November 2007
  • etripney

How it works:
  • If you wish to be added to the list, please PM me with your details.
  • We will kick off once we have 5 members.
  • You will be sending the book to the person who appears after you in the list, so you need to PM them to get their address!
  • It's not a race, but please read and send the book on as speedily as you can, other people are dying to read it too.
  • Please journal the book once you have received it (so we all know where it currently is) and again when you have read it (so we know what you thought of it!)
  • If you're the last person on the list (i.e. we run out of members) the book comes back to me until there are more interested parties...

Amazon Review
Georgiana Spencer was, in a sense, an 18th-century "It Girl". She came from one of England's richest and most landed families, and married into another. She was, beautiful, sensitive and extravagant. Acquainted fairly young with Charles James Fox, her move from parties to Parties led her to become the intimate of ministers and princes, and she canvassed assiduously for the Whig cause, most famously in the Westminster election of 1784. By turns she was caricatured and fawned on by the press, and she provided the inspiration for Lady Teazle in Sheridan's School For Scandal. But, luckily for her biographer, she also had weaknesses that were to taint her life. As gin gripped the masses, so gambling enthralled the aristocracy. By 1784 Georgiana owed "many, many, many thousands", and the creditors she acquired dogged her until her death, but the sterility of her marriage meant that she never came close to disclosing the magnitude of her debts. Amanda Foreman describes astutely the mess that was personal relationships for the aristocratic subculture (Georgiana and the Duke engaged for many years in a ménage à trois with Lady Elizabeth Fraser, who inveigled her way into his bed and her heart). She is, by her own admission, a little in love with her subject, which can lead to occasional lapses of perspective, but generally it adds zest to a narrative built on, rather than burdened by, scholarship, that is at once accessible and learned. An impressive debut, in every sense. --David Vincent

Amazon Synopsis
Sex, intrigue and adultery in the world of high politics and huge wealth in late eighteenth-century England. Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire was one of the most flamboyant and influential women of the eighteenth century. The great-great-great-great aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales, she was variously a compulsive gambler, a political savante and operator of the highest order, a drug addict, an adulteress and the darling of the common people. This authoritative, utterly absorbing book presents a mesmerizing picture of a fascinating world of political and sexual intrigues, grand houses, huge parties, glamour and great wealth -- always on the edge of being squandered by the excesses and scandals of individuals.

NOTE: the cover is in poor condition, due to damp. 

Journal Entry 2 by wingCaterinaannawing from Coventry, West Midlands United Kingdom on Sunday, July 02, 2006

This book has not been rated.

'caught' - or more precisely passed on - at the Uncon. One of several ring/ray books collected, that I will read in descending order of the number of people following, so this is third up after I finish the current (chunky) read. 

Journal Entry 3 by wingCaterinaannawing from Coventry, West Midlands United Kingdom on Monday, July 24, 2006

8 out of 10

Having recently read several historical novels set in the period covered by Georgiana's life, it was good to meet some of the characters from them as real people while reading this book. I thought the Duchess herself was fascinating, but wonder how much Foreman was able to detach herself from her subject as the portrait was sympathetic throughout. I wonder what the people on 'Spendaholics' would make of her compulsive gambling were she alive today?

Finally went in the post to Miss-R today. 

Journal Entry 4 by Miss-R from Lingfield, Surrey United Kingdom on Thursday, July 27, 2006

This book has not been rated.

Thanks for passing this on. I'm reading something at the moment but will start on this as soon as possible. 

Journal Entry 5 by Miss-R from Lingfield, Surrey United Kingdom on Tuesday, August 15, 2006

8 out of 10

A very interesting read, much better than I thought. Some historical bigraphies can be very dry and full of facts without conveying what the subject was really like, but this was the opposite. I liked Georgiana, despite her obvious faults, though some of her life was like a soap opera-her gambling, her best friend living with them as the mistress of her husband, the pair of them leaving children left, right and centre. OK, maybe it wasn't that many children but it was quite shocking by todays standards. To be passed on to Starry-Starry. 

Journal Entry 6 by Starry-Starry from Llandrindod Wells, Wales United Kingdom on Monday, September 04, 2006

This book has not been rated.

Arrived this morning, thanks Miss-R. Looking forward to reading it. 

Journal Entry 7 by Starry-Starry from Llandrindod Wells, Wales United Kingdom on Monday, November 06, 2006

This book has not been rated.

I'm really sorry I've kept this so long. I thought it was just about a month, but it's been two months!!

I'm going to have to admit defeat and realise that I'm not going to read it. I've tried, but I'm in a strange mood, reading wise, lately and I've been struggling to read easy reads let alone a work that requires some concentration. I'll PM Candy-is-Dandy and send it on its way to her as soon as I have her address. 

Journal Entry 8 by wingcandy-is-dandywing from Braintree, Essex United Kingdom on Wednesday, November 15, 2006

This book has not been rated.

Received from starry-starry. Looking forward to learning more about the Duchess of Devonshire. 

Journal Entry 9 by AliceF from Coventry, Warwickshire United Kingdom on Saturday, March 17, 2007

This book has not been rated.

Sent candy-is-dandy a little nudge to get the ring moving again... 

Journal Entry 10 by wingcandy-is-dandywing from Braintree, Essex United Kingdom on Thursday, October 11, 2007

6 out of 10

Firstly apologies for holding up this ring. I have, after several false starts, now read this book and certainly found it interesting. Not only the character and scandalous behaviour of the Duchess and her social circle - the newspapers seem to have has a wonderful time reporting on her activities - but also the political intrigue of the time. I am inclined to read more of Charles Fox.

I did find it a bit tedious in places - I suppose I just wanted more scandal!!

Thanks AliceF for sharing this book and for being so patient with me for sitting on it for so long.

Update: 18/10/07 - posted to next in line - rubybluelady. 

Journal Entry 11 by RubyBlueLady from Avebury, Wiltshire United Kingdom on Tuesday, October 23, 2007

This book has not been rated.

This arrived today and I'd just finished a book so I can start this one straightaway. 

Journal Entry 12 by RubyBlueLady from Avebury, Wiltshire United Kingdom on Thursday, November 08, 2007

8 out of 10

Biographies can be a little dry but this one kept me interested. Georgiana is likeable and fallible, her affairs and money problems make her seem more approachable in a way figures of the past sometimes aren't. Amanda Foreman has a talent for this, just wait until you meet her best friend Bess, all the years that have passed since she lived, and you still want to slap her.

Will send this book to rosiewhippet

Personally, I never fully understood the politics of the day, and if the world were designed for air heads like me, the politics would've been left out. Just give me scandal and illigitimate children, and I'll be happy. Fortunately there was plenty of both in this book. 

Journal Entry 13 by rosiewhippet from Fenstanton, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom on Monday, November 26, 2007

This book has not been rated.

Received safe and sound thank you. I have a couple of Rings before this one but I am looking forward to reading it.

Thanks for sending it to me.

Rosiewhippet. x 

Journal Entry 14 by rosiewhippet from Fenstanton, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom on Thursday, February 21, 2008

4 out of 10

It is a very hard book to get into as there is just so much information. Unfortunately I just didn't have enough time to sit down properly and give it the atention it needs! What I read I really enjoyed and will pop it on my wishlist for the future.

Thanks for sharing. I have PMed the next person and am awaiting their address.

Thanks for sharing.

Rosiewhippet. x 

Journal Entry 15 by rosiewhippet at RAF Wyton Post Office in RAF Wyton, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom on Monday, March 03, 2008

This book has not been rated.

Released 3 yrs ago (3/4/2008 UTC) at RAF Wyton Post Office in RAF Wyton, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

On its way to the next reader. 2nd Class

Rosiewhippet. x 



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