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Author: Elizabeth C Goldsmith Publisher: PublicAffairs ISBN: 1586488902 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 290
Book Description
The Mancini Sisters, Marie and Hortense, were born in Rome, brought to the court of Louis XIV of France, and strategically married off by their uncle, Cardinal Mazarin, to secure his political power base. Such was the life of many young women of the age: they had no independent status under the law and were entirely a part of their husband's property once married. Marie and Hortense, however, had other ambitions in mind altogether. Miserable in their marriages and determined to live independently, they abandoned their husbands in secret and began lives of extraordinary daring on the run and in the public eye. The beguiling sisters quickly won the affections of noblemen and kings alike. Their flight became popular fodder for salon conversation and tabloids, and was closely followed by seventeenth-century European society. The Countess of Grignan remarked that they were traveling "like two heroines out of a novel." Others gossiped that they "were roaming the countryside in pursuit of wandering lovers. "Their scandalous behavior -- disguising themselves as men, gambling, and publicly disputing with their husbands -- served as more than just entertainment. It sparked discussions across Europe concerning the legal rights of husbands over their wives. Elizabeth Goldsmith's vibrant biography of the Mancini sisters -- drawn from personal papers of the players involved and the tabloids of the time -- illuminates the lives of two pioneering free spirits who were feminists long before the word existed.
Author: Elizabeth C Goldsmith Publisher: PublicAffairs ISBN: 1586488902 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 290
Book Description
The Mancini Sisters, Marie and Hortense, were born in Rome, brought to the court of Louis XIV of France, and strategically married off by their uncle, Cardinal Mazarin, to secure his political power base. Such was the life of many young women of the age: they had no independent status under the law and were entirely a part of their husband's property once married. Marie and Hortense, however, had other ambitions in mind altogether. Miserable in their marriages and determined to live independently, they abandoned their husbands in secret and began lives of extraordinary daring on the run and in the public eye. The beguiling sisters quickly won the affections of noblemen and kings alike. Their flight became popular fodder for salon conversation and tabloids, and was closely followed by seventeenth-century European society. The Countess of Grignan remarked that they were traveling "like two heroines out of a novel." Others gossiped that they "were roaming the countryside in pursuit of wandering lovers. "Their scandalous behavior -- disguising themselves as men, gambling, and publicly disputing with their husbands -- served as more than just entertainment. It sparked discussions across Europe concerning the legal rights of husbands over their wives. Elizabeth Goldsmith's vibrant biography of the Mancini sisters -- drawn from personal papers of the players involved and the tabloids of the time -- illuminates the lives of two pioneering free spirits who were feminists long before the word existed.
Author: Anne O'Brien Publisher: HarperCollins Australia ISBN: 1488797358 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 443
Book Description
Elizabeth of Lancaster Sister. Wife. Traitor. One betrayal is all it takes to change history... June, 1380: Elizabeth Plantagenet – seventeen years old, spoilt, headstrong, fun-loving and intelligent — is about to be married. The Earl of Pembroke is an advantageous choice for all concerned, except Elizabeth, as the Earl is only eight years old. June, 1386: Scandalously pregnant by Sir John Holland, Duke of Exeter, whilst still married to the Earl, Elizabeth is hastily married again. As half-brother to King Richard II, Sir John is a man known to all for both his charm and self-interested scheming. Soon Elizabeth is drawn into the heart of a dangerous rebellion with her brother, King Henry IV, on one side, and her husband on the other. As tensions become a matter of life or death, Elizabeth is presented with an impossible choice of where to give her loyalty... “One of the best writers around... she outdoes even Philippa Gregory.” — The Sun “Extremely compelling historical fiction.” — Cosmopolitan “...packed with powerful emotions and tumultuous unfolding of an affair that changed the course of royal history, this is a novel in which to enjoy the past in all it rich colour and dramatic detail...” — Lancashire Evening Post “Anne O'Brien has joined the exclusive club of excellent historical novelists.” — Sunday Express
Author: Sarah Kennedy Publisher: Cross and the Crown ISBN: 9781950586134 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 426
Book Description
The King's Sisters continues the story of Catherine Havens. It's now 1542, and another queen, Catherine Howard, has been beheaded for adultery. Although young Prince Edward is growing, and the line of Tudor succession seems secure, the king falls into a deep melancholy and questions the faith and loyalty of those around him. Catherine has found herself in a unique position as a married former nun. Now she is a wealthy widow. She has two children, a boy who has successfully joined the young prince's household and a daughter who lives with her at Richmond Palace, home to Henry's cast-off fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, now designated "The King's Beloved Sister." Catherine also enjoys the attentions of widower Benjamin Davies, and in the festive court atmosphere, she has furtively indulged her passion for him. But England has changed again. Anne of Cleves hopes for reinstatement as queen--until questions arise about the finances of the houses she keeps. Catherine, as one of the king's "reformed sisters," is singled out, just as she realizes that she is carrying a third child. The King's Sisters explores the Tudor court under an aging Henry VIII. He now has a son and heir, but his two daughters remain players in the political intrigues. The Cross and the Crown series follows the very private Catherine as she is thrust into the scheming. She is skilled enough to serve a former queen, but this may be the very quality that endangers her future. Sarah Kennedy opens magical windows into the world of Tudor's England and brings it to life in vibrant colors and unforgettable reverberations. She reinvents the genre of historical fiction of that period giving voice to women of all ages, social classes, and economic standing. She writes with astounding detail of material culture and deft psychological insight about the experiences of women from the royal sisters to maids and confidants amidst whom the feisty protagonist Catherine Haven sparkles in the full richness of her empowered self, in the delicious shades of her moods, intelligence, warm motherhood and sensuality. This third novel in the series soars to new heights and we follow the heroine breathlessly on her suspenseful, sometimes reckless, always riveting journey. Domnica Radulescu, author of Train to Trieste and Black Sea Twilight.
Author: Sally Christie Publisher: Simon and Schuster ISBN: 1501102966 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 432
Book Description
Court intriguers are beginning to sense that young King Louis XV, after seven years of marriage, is tiring of his Polish wife. The race is on to find a mistress for the royal bed. The King's scheming ministers push Louise, the eldest of the aristocratic Nesle sisters, into the arms of the King. Over the following decade, of the five Nesle sisters-- Louise, Pauline, Diane, Hortense, and Marie-Anne-- four will become mistresses to King Louis XV. All will conspire, betray, suffer, and triumph in a desperate fight for both love and power.
Author: Karen Dionne Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 0735213046 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 321
Book Description
"Chilling and captivating, The Wicked Sister explores the complex layers of family bonds, guilt, and redemption. A beautifully written, haunting psychological thriller." --Megan Miranda, author of All the Missing Girls From the bestselling and award-winning author of The Marsh King's Daughter comes a startling novel of psychological suspense as two generations of sisters try to unravel their tangled relationships between nature and nurture, guilt and betrayal, love and evil. For a decade and a half, Rachel Cunningham has chosen to lock herself away in a psychiatric facility, tortured by gaps in her memory and the certainty that she is responsible for her parents' deaths. But when she learns new details about their murders, Rachel returns, in a quest for answers, to the place where she once felt safest: her family's sprawling log cabin in the remote forests of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. As Rachel begins to uncover what really happened on the day her parents were murdered, she learns--as her mother did years earlier--that home can be a place of unspeakable evil, and that the bond she shares with her sister might be the most poisonous of all.
Author: Sherry Jones Publisher: Simon and Schuster ISBN: 1451633254 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 466
Book Description
Rich in intrigue and scheming, love and lust, Sherry Jones’s vibrant historical novel follows four women destined to sway the fate of nations and the hearts of kings… Amid the lush valleys and fragrant wildflowers of Provence, Marguerite, Eléonore, Sanchia, and Beatrice have learned to charm, hunt, dance, and debate under the careful tutelage of their ambitious mother—and to abide by the countess’s motto: “Family comes first.” With Provence under constant attack, their legacy and safety depend upon powerful alliances. Marguerite’s illustrious match with the young King Louis IX makes her Queen of France. Soon Eléonore—independent and daring—is betrothed to Henry III of England. In turn, shy, devout Sanchia and tempestuous Beatrice wed noblemen who will also make them queens. Yet a crown is no guarantee of protection. Enemies are everywhere, from Marguerite’s duplicitous mother-in-law to vengeful lovers and land-hungry barons. Then there are the dangers that come from within, as loyalty succumbs to bitter sibling rivalry, and sister is pitted against sister for the prize each believes is rightfully hers—Provence itself. From the treacherous courts of France and England, to the bloody tumult of the Crusades, Sherry Jones traces the extraordinary true story of four fascinating sisters whose passions, conquests, and progeny shaped the course of history.
Author: Luisa Dillner Publisher: Faber & Faber ISBN: 0571274528 Category : Humor Languages : en Pages : 302
Book Description
A sister is for life: your best friend, or your worst enemy. She is the yardstick by which you measure how well you're doing and the keeper of your family secrets. She may be the first person you rush to when something wonderful happens or the one whose shoulder you cry on. She's the one you're compared to and the one to compete with. In this entertaining collection there are sisters ranging from the loving Brontës to the scrapping Mitfords (who could never remember who was in and who was out of favour), to the Pankhursts (who fought for women's suffrage only to fall out with each other), to sisters of Lenin and Hitler, and of Kings and Queens. There are sisters whose job it is to compete with each other, such as Venus and Serena Williams. 'It wasn't fun eliminating my little sister, but I have to be tough', said Venus. A Lewis Carroll poem says, 'never stew your sister'. If cooking her isn't allowed, what is the worst thing you can do to your sister? If you want to make sure she'll never forgive you, pinch her man or borrow her clothes.
Author: Mary Anna King Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company ISBN: 0393248011 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 251
Book Description
"Searing . . . explores how identity forms love, and love, identity. Written in engrossing, intimate prose, it makes us rethink how blood’s deep connections relate to the attachments of proximity."—Andrew Solomon, author of Far from the Tree In the early 1980s, Mary Hall is a little girl growing up in poverty in Camden, New Jersey, with her older brother Jacob and parents who, in her words, were "great at making babies, but not so great at holding on to them." After her father leaves the family, she is raised among a commune of mothers in a low-income housing complex. Then, no longer able to care for the only daughter she has left at home, Mary's mother sends Mary away to Oklahoma to live with her maternal grandparents, who have also been raising her younger sister, Rebecca. When Mary is legally adopted by her grandparents, the result is a family story like no other. Because Mary was adopted by her grandparents, Mary’s mother, Peggy, is legally her sister, while her brother, Jacob, is legally her nephew. Living in Oklahoma with her maternal grandfather, Mary gets a new name and a new life. But she's haunted by the past: by the baby girls she’s sure will come looking for her someday, by the mother she left behind, by the father who left her. Mary is a college student when her sisters start to get back in touch. With each subsequent reunion, her family becomes closer to whole again. Moving, haunting, and at times wickedly funny, Bastards is about finding one's family and oneself.
Author: David Baldwin Publisher: The History Press ISBN: 0752479903 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 247
Book Description
Warwick the Kingmaker, the Earl of Warwick & Salisbury whose wealth and power was so great that he could effectively decide who would rule England during the Wars of the Roses (1455-1487), had six sisters: Joan, Cecily, Alice, Eleanor, Katherine and Margaret. They all married powerful noblemen who fought on opposing sides during this turbulent period. The Kingmaker's Sisters examines the role that they played in late fifteenth-century England, as wives, mothers and homemakers, but also as deputies for their absent husbands, and how the struggle between the Yorkists and the Lancastrians affected them and their families. Scholarly but accessible, this is the first history of the Wars of the Roses to be written from this perspective, and will appeal to general readers, historians of the period and those with an interest in feminist history.
Author: Elizabeth C Goldsmith
Author: Elizabeth C Goldsmith
Author: Anne O'Brien
Author: Sarah Kennedy
Author: Sally Christie
Author: Karen Dionne
Author: Sherry Jones
Author: Luisa Dillner
Author: Mary Anna King
Author: 
Author: David Baldwin