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Perdita: The Life of Mary Robinson (PB)
Perdita: The Life of Mary Robinson (PB)
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In this enthralling biography, Paula Byrne captures Mary Robinson’s life in all its extraordinary, disgraceful, triumphant and romantic glory.
One of the most flamboyant women of the late-eighteenth century, Mary Robinson’s life was marked by reversals of fortune. After being raised by a middle-class father, Mary was married, at age fourteen, to Thomas Robinson. His dissipated lifestyle landed the couple and their baby in debtors’ prison, where Mary wrote her first book of poetry and met lifelong friend Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire.
On her release, Mary quickly became one of the most popular actresses of the day. She famously played Perdita in ‘The Winter’s Tale’ for a rapt audience that included the Prince of Wales, who fell madly in love with her. She later used his copious love letters for blackmail.
This authoritative and engaging book by Paula Byrne presents a fascinating portrait of a woman who was variously darling of the London stage, a poet whose work was admired by Coleridge and a mistress to the most powerful men in England. Yet her fortunes were nevertheless precarious, always on the brink of being squandered through recklessness, excess and passion.
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