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The Duchess Countess: The Woman Who Scandalized Eighteenth-Century London
Maybe someday
31
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
10/100Critics
53/100Scholars
Author:
Catherine Ostler
Publisher:
Atria Books
Date:
February 22, 2022
This biography explores the adventurous life of the stylish and scandalous Elizabeth Chudleigh, Duchess of Kingstonâa woman whose infamous bigamy trial was bigger news in British society than the American War of Independenceâand provides a clear-eyed look into the Georgian Era.
What The Reviewers Say
[A] skillful and highly entertaining biography.
[An] empathetic perspective, combined with rigorous scholarship, to reveal Chudleigh in her full glory, with the last dozen years of her life in Russia, Estonia and France being perhaps the most fascinating.
Ostler’s book is such a rollicking read that it would be a shame to give away the outcome of the trial or the end of the story. She tells Elizabeth’s story with admirable style and gusto, and clearly finds her heroine irresistible..
This explosive trial lies at the heart of Catherine Ostler’s new biography of Chudleigh, but we do not arrive at this pivotal moment until two thirds of the way through the book. The build-up is over 250 pages, but if you thrill to the minutiae of 18th-century aristocratic life then you’re in for a treat. Ostler’s CV includes stints as editor of both ES magazine and Tatler, so there’s not a peerage or princely title for which she is not prepared to go the full Debrett’s. Her footnotes are a joy in themselves.
