Shakespeare's Sisters

 

Shakespeare's Sisters: How Women Wrote the Renaissance- Ramie Targoff

Knopf

Release Date: March 12, 2024

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: This remarkable work about women writers in the English Renaissance explodes our notion of the Shakespearean period by drawing us into the lives of four women who were committed to their craft long before there was any possibility of “a room of one’s own.”

In an innovative and engaging narrative of everyday life in Shakespeare’s England, Ramie Targoff carries us from the sumptuous coronation of Queen Elizabeth in the mid-sixteenth century into the private lives of four women writers working at a time when women were legally the property of men. Some readers may have heard of Mary Sidney, accomplished poet and sister of the famous Sir Philip Sidney, but few will have heard of Aemilia Lanyer, the first woman in the seventeenth century to publish a book of original poetry, which offered a feminist take on the crucifixion, or Elizabeth Cary, who published the first original play by a woman, about the plight of the Jewish princess Mariam. Then there was Anne Clifford, a lifelong diarist who fought for decades against a patriarchy that tried to rob her of her land in one of England’s most infamous inheritance battles. These women had husbands and children to care for and little support for their art, yet against all odds they defined themselves as writers, finding rooms of their own where doors had been shut for centuries. Targoff flings those doors open, revealing the treasures left by these extraordinary women; in the process, she helps us see the Renaissance in a fresh light, creating a richer understanding of history and offering a much-needed female perspective on life in Shakespeare’s day.

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If you're looking for an introduction to the world of Renaissance England through women's eyes and how they worked to make their voices heard through writing- look no further than Shakespeare's Sisters by Ramie Targoff. She takes the long-held belief that Tudor women didn't read, didn't write, and certainly weren't anything but meek and mild wives and daughters and throws it out the window. 

Queen Elizabeth might not have been trying to break the glass ceiling for women, but that doesn't mean other women weren't looking for ways to express themselves. Mary Sidney is someone readers might have heard of- at least because her brother was famous. She took that and ran with it, adding translations and poems of her own to published works of his (some that she only recently got credit for!). Aemilia Lanyer was the first woman to publish a book of original poetry in the 17th century, and she did it while worrying about money for her family because she wasn't nobly born! She made it more shocking by writing a feminist take on the crucifixion- including a poem from the point of view of the wife of Pontius Pilate arguing that if he condemned Christ he is basically erasing Eve's original sin and women are no longer the 'lesser sex'. Elizabeth Carey was the first woman to publish an original play, a feminist take on the Jewish princess Mariam. Anne Clifford is probably the first woman diarist who also wrote down her life and her family's history, all while fighting 40 years of legal battles for her inheritance.

Each of these women were ahead of their time in so many ways, determined to live life as they wanted to. This incredibly well-written and well-researched book gives them back their voices and introduces us to women we may not have known before, but will now definitely want to know more about. The book is designed to tell us more about their lives than to be literary analyses, but at the end we get a great chapter on why their writing is so rarely taught, where we can find their books, and other Renaissance women we might want to read. 

I absolutely recommend Shakespeare's Sisters to anyone interested in Tudor England and English literature, or the increasing discoveries of women's lives throughout history, some of which are only recently being brought back into the light.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Hunting the Falcon

 Hunting the Falcon: Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and the Marriage that Shook Europe- John Guy & Julia Fox

Bloomsbury

Released: September 14, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: The story of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn is one of the most remarkable in a long courtship followed by a shotgun wedding and then a coronation, ending just short of three years later when a husband's passion turned to such hatred that he simply wanted his wife gone. In Hunting the Falcon, John Guy and Julia Fox examine the most recent archival discoveries and peel back layers of historical myth to present Anne and Henry in startlingly new ways. They show how Anne and Henry's relationship was tied almost completely to the major events of international politics at one of the great turning points of European history, and dispel any assumptions that a sixteenth-century woman, even a queen, could exert little influence on the politics and beliefs of a patriarchal society. Anne was in fact a shrewd and ruthless politician in her own right, a woman who steered Henry and his policies - and whom Henry seriously contemplated making joint sovereign.

Hunting the Falcon sets the facts and some completely new finds into a wide frame, unearthing the truth about these two extraordinary lives and their tumultuous times. It pays particular attention to the seven 'missing' years that Anne spent in France, and explores how she organised her side of the royal court in novel ways that ultimately sowed the seeds of her own downfall. In this feat of historical research and analysis, Guy and Fox offer a sumptuous retelling of one of the most consequential marriages in history and an exhilarating portrait of love, lust, politics and power.

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I've read a number of biographies on Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn recently, and Hunting the Falcon has to be right up at the top. I love how historians John Guy and Julia Fox take the wide view of the relationship. It wasn't ever just about love, or even lust, it was always about power and politics- both on the small family scale and on the European scale.

Guy and Fox do an excellent job of describing Anne's life in Europe before coming to Katherine of Aragon's court and Henry's attention, and how what she learned there greatly influenced what she herself would do when she was queen. She modeled her court on Queen Claude, who she served in France, allowing both women and men into her court. This probably allowed her access to more information than she might otherwise have gotten, certainly made her feel more accessible to those who wanted to ask for favors and knew the Queen was the one to go to, and in the end, helped Cromwell exploit chinks in Anne's armor that led to her execution. We see what Anne did as queen for those around her, the changes she made and those she tried, but failed, to make.  

But more than focusing on the power Anne wielded in England, Guy and Fox help the reader understand the ever-shifting power plays going on between England and France, the pope and Charles (Katherine of Aragon's nephew, Holy Roman Emperor, Hapsburg emperor, etc.). Who sided with who, when, where, and why changed regularly and Guy and Fox do the best job of explaining the players and their motivations (at any given time) that I've read yet. I think that was what impressed me the most in Hunting the Falcon. I always knew that Anne was pro-French, but here we get deeply into why sometimes it was to Henry's advantage to side with Francis and France, other times with Charles, who might support him against the pope, and who's wars in Europe would benefit him the most.

Whether you think you know all there is to know about Henry and Anne, or are looking for a good book to start your exploration of this explosive relationship, Hunting the Falcon is definitely a book I recommend!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Worst Medieval Monarchs

 

The Worst Medieval Monarchs- Phil Bradford

Pen & Sword

Release Date: September 30, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Stephen. John. Edward II. Richard II. Richard III. These five are widely viewed as the worst of England’s medieval kings. Certainly, their reigns were not success stories. Two of these kings lost their thrones, one only avoided doing so by dying, another was killed in battle, and the remaining one had to leave his crown to his opponent. All have been seen as incompetent, their reigns blighted by civil war and conflict. They tore the realm apart, failing in the basic duty of a king to ensure peace and justice. For that, all of them paid a heavy price. As well as incompetence, some also have reputations for cruelty and villainy, More than one has been portrayed as a tyrant. The murder of family members and arbitrary executions stain their reputations. All five reigns ended in failure. As a result, the kings have been seen as failures themselves, the worst examples of medieval English kingship. They lost their reputations as well as their crowns.

Yet were these five really the worst men to wear the crown of England in the Middle Ages? Or has history treated them unfairly? This book looks at the stories of their lives and reigns, all of which were dramatic and often unpredictable. It then examines how they have been seen since their deaths, the ways their reputations have been shaped across the centuries. The standards of their own age were different to our own. How these kings have been judged has changed over time, sometimes dramatically. Fiction, from Shakespeare’s plays to modern films, has also played its part in creating the modern picture. Many things have created, over a long period, the negative reputations of these five. Today, they have come to number among the worst kings of English history. Is this fair, or should they be redeemed?

That is the question this book sets out to answer.

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This was a really excellent look at 5 medieval English monarchs: Stephen, John, Edward II, Richard II, and Richard III. The author states up front that labeling people (maybe especially monarchs) 'best' or 'worst' anything is fraught with all sorts of problems but since that's the kind of age we live in now, he's looking at five medieval kings who are generally argued to be pretty bad. He explains that they will be looked at in the context of their time and then tells us what kingship meant in that time and how their people would have been judging them. Seems like a concept that should be obvious, but so many don't do this to put us all on a level playing field that I was both amazed and delighted to find this book doing so!

Bradford kept on delighting me by taking each monarch and giving a brief summary of their lives, then following how chroniclers treated their legacy, how they were viewed through the centuries, and how that view could shift (occasionally dramatically) through time depending on what different historians were trying to prove. Which usually had more to do with the historian and their viewpoint or propaganda than the monarch and his original life. How has popular culture treated each king? And then Bradford's final verdict on whether the king deserves to be known as among the "worst" medieval monarchs or not. 

I loved the sections where Bradford follows the king's legacy through the centuries and how historians have argued over them and used them to show different angles. Likewise, the sections on popular culture really help you understand how, while some kings aren't hurt by it, others are forever branded in popular opinion in certain ways. No matter what historians may decide, poor King John is never going to be seen in popular culture as anything other than the easy villain of Robin Hood stories. Almost more a stereotype than an actual person. And let's not even talk about Shakespeare and Richard III!

Well-researched, well-written, with arguments clearly expressed for you to agree or disagree with (or inspire you to read more about), Bradford does an excellent job of presenting pretty balanced accounts for each king. His emphasis on placing each man in their historical context to be judged in medieval context alone was excellent, and something I wish was done more often when it comes to history.

I definitely recommend this book to history lovers, those looking to start exploring medieval times and their monarchs, and people just looking for a good book!

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Woman of Influence

 

A Woman of Influence: The Spectacular Rise of Alice Spencer in Tudor England- Vanessa Wilkie

Atria Books

Release Date: April 18, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Alice Spencer was born in 1560 to a family on the rise. Her grandfather had amassed a sizeable estate of fertile grazing land and made a small fortune in sheep farming, allowing him to purchase a simple but distinguished manor house called Althorp.

With her sizable dowry, Alice married the heir to one of the most powerful aristocratic families in the country, eventually becoming the Countess of Derby. Though she enjoyed modest renown, it wasn’t until her husband’s sudden death (after he turned in a group of Catholics for plotting against Queen Elizabeth I) that Alice and her family’s future changed forever.

Faced with a lawsuit from her brother-in-law over her late husband’s fortune, Alice raised eyebrows by marrying England’s most powerful lawyer. Together, they were victorious, and Alice focused her attentions on securing appropriate husbands for her daughters, increasing her land ownings, and securing a bright future for her grandchildren and the entire Spencer family. But they would not completely escape scandals, and as the matriarch, Alice had to face an infamous trial that threatened everything she had worked so hard for. 

Now, the full story of the remarkable Alice Spencer Stanley Egerton is revealed in this comprehensive and colorful biography. A woman both ahead of and part of her time, Alice’s ruthless challenging of the status quo has inspired future generations of Spencers and will change the way you view Tudor women.

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Alice Spencer was born in 1560, at that interesting cusp of English gentry with "new money" looking to marry into the aristocracy- so many of whom had titles, but no money. This sounds like it could be the start of many a historical romance, but this book is nonfiction. Carefully researched from wills, lawsuits, and the most scandalous trial to hit the House of Lords in generations, Vanessa Wilkie pieces together the life of Alice Spencer, youngest daughter of a knight, who goes on to be the Dowager Countess of Derby. She becomes the successful matriarch to a large family of children, grandchildren, stepchildren, and in-laws who work together to raise the extended family's fortunes as a whole.

Vanessa Wilkie does an excellent job giving the reader fascinating details about what it was like to live in Tudor/Stuart England, including legal information for marriages that shows that there were times women could have more power or control than we might imagine.  In fact, Alice's entire life is an excellent case study in how it was possible for a woman to work through her husband, her friends or family, or in other behind-the-scenes ways to hold significant influence both with her family and in a larger political circle. 

There were times I felt Wilkie repeated herself a bit too often or re-emphasized too much the basic differences between today's society and family/personal goals and those of Alice's times. Perhaps this was to try and encourage the reader not to judge Alice and her contemporaries by our standards- which she then does during the Castlehaven trial and its aftermath. This is a tricky balancing act: seeing Alice as a mother and a Tudor matriarch mean that her actions and reactions to her daughter's trauma and the trial that follows meant something very different in her day than they would in ours, and Wilkie doesn't seem entirely sure what to do with it. She reports on the trial itself brilliantly, but it is obvious that she is uncomfortable with Alice's recorded actions and has to frequently remind the readers (and possibly herself) about the public social behavior that Alice needed to show in order to protect the rest of her extended family. Personally, I think that bringing her daughter back to live near her and seemingly protecting her for the rest of her life, shows a glimpse of what was still a close mother-daughter bond, but since there are no letters or diaries for either woman we can't know for certain. 

Overall, however, this was a fascinating book, showing how people could rise through the ranks, patronize art and literature, influence others- including monarchs- both directly and indirectly, and how dangerous the wrong alliance could be. Well-written, well-researched, history lovers will definitely need to read this book! 

Anyone who enjoyed The Duchess Countess by Catherine Ostler or Devices and Desires by Kate Hubbard will definitively enjoy Vanessa Wilkie's A Woman of Influence.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Before Mrs. Beeton

Before Mrs. Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England's Most Influential Housekeeper- Neil Buttery

Pen & Sword Books

Release Date: February 28, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis:  The great Elizabeth Raffald used to be a household name, and her list of accomplishments would make even the highest of achievers feel suddenly impotent. After becoming housekeeper at Arley Hall in Cheshire at age twenty-five, she married and moved to Manchester, transforming the Manchester food scene and business community, writing the first A to Z directory and creating the first domestic servants registry office, the first temping agency if you will. Not only that, she set up a cookery school and ran a high class tavern attracting both gentry and nobility. 

These achievements gave her notoriety and standing in Manchester, but it all pales in comparison to her biggest achievement; her cookery book The Experienced English Housekeeper. Published in 1769, it ran to over twenty editions and brought her fame and fortune.

But then disaster; her fortune lost, spent by her alcoholic husband. Bankrupted twice, she spent her final years in a pokey coffeehouse in a seedy part of town.

Her book, however, lived on. Influential and often imitated (but never bettered), it became the must-have volume for any kitchen, and it helped form our notion of traditional British food as we think of it today.

To tell Elizabeth’s tumultuous rise and fall story, historian Neil Buttery doesn’t just delve into the history of food in the eighteenth century, he has to look at trade and empire, domestic service, the agricultural revolution, women’s rights, publishing and copyright law, gentlemen’s clubs and societies, the horse races, the defeminization of midwifery, and the paranormal, to name but a few.

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Before Mrs. Beeton, there was Elizabeth Raffald, a one woman powerhouse who worked hard to become an incredible success, and deserves to be far more well known than she is today. Elizabeth began as a servant, worked her way up to (a surprisingly young) housekeeper, and after marrying John Raffald moved to Manchester where she had a confectioner's shop, catered fine meals, built a servant's hiring agency, wrote a best-selling cookery book based on the idea that the developing middle-class and servants (housekeepers etc.) wanted to know the best ways to economically cook excellent meals, plain meals, fancy desserts, and everything in between. 

This book does a really great job of giving the reader a good feel for where Elizabeth is historically and socially- she works to build up her social status and wealth without ever shocking the society around her. She plays by the rules, but she has a brilliant sense for business opportunities and timing that allow her to become an incredibly influential woman in Manchester, and author Neil Buttery argues, brings Manchester up with her. There is excellent additional research on life in eighteenth century England at different levels of society, the changes England's global empire were making back home, wonderful information on what it was like being a servant in these changing times when so many were leaving the country for city life, fascinating food history, and more. We get to see some of Elizabeth's recipes with modern adjustments in case anyone is adventurous enough to try them at home, and more.

As people once again become interested in food history and the people connected to making important contributions to national food as we might still know it today, Elizabeth Raffald will surely become a more known and celebrated name. This well-written and well-researched book will hopefully help to play a part in getting the word out. I'm certainly glad I found it!!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Spotlights for December 2022

 

 Here are a few of the new releases from December of 2022 that I didn't write a blog post on, but a spotlight through Goodreads reviews:

Empire of Ice and Snow: The Disastrous & Heroic Voyage of the Karluk -Buddy Levy    

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Release Date: December 6, 2022

Nonfiction/Polar Exploration

Set against the backdrop of the Titanic disaster and World War I, filled with heroism, tragedy, and scientific discovery, Buddy Levy's Empire of Ice and Stone tells the story of two men and two distinctively different brands of leadership: one selfless, one self-serving, and how they would forever be bound by one of the most audacious and disastrous expeditions in polar history, considered the last great voyage of The Heroic Age of Discovery.

 Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America- Leila Philip

Rating: 📚📚📚

Release Date: December 6, 2022

Nonfiction/Science/Environmental

Before the American empires of steel and coal and oil, before the railroads, there was the empire of fur. BEAVERLAND tells the tumultuous, eye-opening story of how beavers and the beaver trade shaped American history and culture and our environment. Beginning with the early trans-Atlantic trade in North America, Leila Philip traces the beaver’s profound influence on our nation’s early economy and feverish western expansion, its first corporations and multi-millionaires.

 

Into the West: Mercedes Lackey 

Rating: 📚📚📚

Release Date: December 13, 2022

Fantasy

Baron Valdemar and his people have found a temporary haven, but it cannot hold all of them, or for long. Trouble could follow on their heels at any moment, and there are too many people for Crescent Lake to support. Those who are willing to make a further trek by barge on into the West will follow him into a wilderness depopulated by war and scarred by the terrible magics of a thousand years ago and the Mage Wars. But the wilderness is not as empty as it seems. There are potential friends and rapacious foes....

....and someone is watching them.

 Tudors in Love: Passion and Politics in the Age of England's Most Famous Dynasty- Sarah Gristwood

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Release Date: December 13, 2022

Nonfiction/Medieval History

In this ground-breaking history, Sarah Gristwood reveals the way courtly love made and marred the Tudor dynasty. From Henry VIII declaring himself as the ‘loyal and most assured servant' of Anne Boleyn to the poems lavished on Elizabeth I by her suitors, the Tudors re-enacted the roles of the devoted lovers and capricious mistresses first laid out in the romances of medieval literature. The Tudors in Love dissects the codes of love, desire and power, unveiling romantic obsessions that have shaped the history of the world

Spotlights for October 2022

 October was a busy month for new releases and I didn't write a blog for all the new books I read. But here are some spotlights for a few of the books that released in October 2022 and didn't get the full book blog treatment: 

Station Eternity- Mur Lafferty

Release Date: October 4

Rating: 📚📚📚

A science fiction spoof on the murder mysteries where there's that one person who always happens across dead bodies no matter where they go. Mallory Viridian runs away from the human race to Station Eternity to keep humans safe, only to have humans, murder, and chaos follow her to space.

The Women of Rothschild- Natalie Livingstone

Release Date: October 24

Rating:📚📚📚📚

A well-written and well-researched book on the English branch of the Rothschild family, following the women of the family (by blood and by marriage) across the 19th and 20th centuries. If you are looking for a book that covers social, political, and religious experiences of a Jewish family in England  over centuries and how change slowly happens, as well as watching how women could wield power in the shadows of a male dominated society, this is definitely a book to check out.

Murder at Balmoral- Chris McGeorge

Release: October 25

Rating: 📚📚📚

When King Eric of England dies under suspicious circumstances on Christmas, only one of the Royal family could have poisoned him. Friend and Royal Chef Jonathan is tasked with figuring out who did it before the authorities arrive in this closed room mystery whose dark side some may like, others will definitely not, and the timing of which must be under review by the publishers.

Revolutionary Samuel Adams- Stacy Schiff

Release: October 25

Rating:📚📚📚📚

A well written, well researched biography of a little known American Founding Father, Samuel Adams may be hard to pull from the shadows because he left little written work behind, but others certainly left plenty of their opinions written about him! Whether the truth behind what others believed Adams the mastermind of will probably never be fully known, this is certainly a biography every American interested in history should read.   

Brave Hearted- Katie Hickman

Release: October 25

Rating:📚📚📚📚📚

Well written and well researched, this new book explores the American West and the women who lived there. It wasn't all cowboys, miners, and outlaws- from early missionaries and pioneers in wagons to women following their mining and military husbands to the first hand accounts of Native American women who saw their lands and cultures taken away from them- this book covers the entire range of women of the early American West. Letters and diaries make it personal and touching while Hickman places people and events in historical and social context.

The Woodville Women-Sarah Hodder

Release: October 30

Rating:📚📚📚

A look at three generations of women during a century of medieval England's turbulent history. Elizabeth Woodville, her daughter Elizabeth of York, and her granddaughter Elizabeth Grey moved among the highest circles in England: queens of England and cousins to kings of England, they balanced the political storm of the Wars of the Roses and Henry VIII's court.

Duchess Countess

 

The Duchess Countess: The Woman Who Scandalized Eighteenth Century London- Catherine Ostler

Atria Books

Release Date: February 22, 2022

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: As maid of honor to the Princess of Wales, Elizabeth Chudleigh enjoyed a luxurious life in the inner circle of the Hanoverian court. With her extraordinary style and engaging wit, she both delighted and scandalized the press and public. She would later even inspire William Thackeray when he was writing his classic Vanity Fair, providing the inspiration for the alluring social climber Becky Sharp. But Elizabeth’s real story is more complex and surprising than anything out of fiction.

A clandestine, candlelit wedding to the young heir to an earldom, a second marriage to a duke, a lust for diamonds, and an electrifying appearance at a masquerade ball in a gossamer dress—it’s no wonder that Elizabeth’s eventual trial was a sensation. Charged with bigamy, an accusation she vehemently fought against, Elizabeth refused to submit to public humiliation and retire quietly.

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The story of Elizabeth Chudleigh is one that might fall under 'truth is stranger than fiction'- or at least more dramatic- and Catherine Ostler does a good job of captivating the reader from the beginning of her book, The Duchess Countess, investing them in Elizabeth's journey.  Through the highs and lows, the trials (both figurative and literal) and triumphs of her life, Elizabeth travelled among the highest circles of English and European aristocracy. She knew everyone and everyone knew her. While this was often the secret to her success it also became part of her downfall.  

With her father and brother dying while she was still young, Elizabeth learned early on the lessons that women in her time had little security without the men in their family. She never wanted to be dependent on others if she could depend on herself instead.  Pure luck, family connections, beauty and wit combined to get her the position of a maid of honor to the Princess of Wales- a position which meant Elizabeth met nearly everyone worth knowing and had brilliant marriage opportunities despite her lack of fortune. But she threw those away to secretly married Augustus Hervey, a second son to a Count. The two swore to keep it secret and he went on a naval ship a few days later. They almost instantly regretted the marriage and and both were good at acting like it hadn't happened-especially Augustus who apparently took womanizing to a whole new level. When Elizabeth met the Duke of Kingston she knew it was the real thing, unable to marry the two still were in love, he subsidized building projects, parties, and anything else wanted until she was declared free to marry. Reading this book, it is impossible to believe the two weren't genuinely in love and that it was love, not money or title, that attracted Elizabeth. Naturally many at the time were not so kind- especially the Duke's nephews who were looking forward to inheriting. With his tragic death, the vultures descended and Elizabeth found herself fighting once more- this time not only for her husband's will but for her own marriage, as the Kingston family wanted her declared a bigamist. This became the trial of the century and absorbed the country's interest more than the war with the American colonies.

Convicted of bigamy but still fighting for her inheritance, Elizabeth left England for the Continent. Hoping for a more friendly atmosphere she travelled Europe and eventually found her way to Russia and the court of Catherine the Great. Still calling herself the Duchess of Kingston since she refused to accept the House of Lord's verdict against her, Russia was one of the only places that would acknowledge her as a duchess. Elizabeth was lucky enough to hit Russia during their craze for all things English, and being extremely rich and able to gift Catherine and her inner circle with paintings and jewels helped ease her way. Mixed success, lavish spending, and continued trials regarding money plagued her for the rest of her life, as did the Duke of Kingston's nephews. While Elizabeth herself was a generous woman and always tried to forgive others and help them, sadly it seems she was never treated as well as she tried to treat others.  

 Anyone who thinks history is dry and dull has clearly not been paying attention to recent streaming service offerings, and The Duchess Countess would make a brilliant addition to these ranks. It's all here: drama, fashion, jewels, tragedy, love, hatred, glittering balls, venomous barbs, politics, kings, queens, legal dramas, clandestine marriages that may or may not actually be marriages. Ostler does a brilliant job explaining the complexities different kinds of marriage at the time- many people weren't sure if they were or were not married based on some of the laws so when Elizabeth and Augustus faced off years later it wasn't as odd as it would seem to us today for the ecclesiastical courts to declare them not married. And it seems more like Elizabeth got caught up in politics when her marriage came before the House of Lords years later than anything else. 

Elizabeth Chudleigh was a woman who knew men held all the power in her world and refused to accept being pushed into the role of a quiet, subservient, invisible, woman. Whether she accepted the double standard of the day where men could have mistresses and second families and then judge her for marrying when she thought she was free to do so, or whether she was angered by it we don't know. But she believed in herself and believed she could do what pleased her, ignoring jealous and venomous critics along the way. Does that make her an 'adventuress' as Thackery makes the antiheroine Becky Sharpe, always looking out for herself? Someone desperate for advancement at all costs? I don't think so. I think this is the story of a woman ahead of her time, challenging society- and frightening society with that challenge. 

Excellent research and writing will keep those afraid of 'dry' history glued to the pages of this fascinating story. Elizabeth Chudleigh's story is that of a woman ahead of her time, one who made mistakes, but refused to hide away and instead enjoyed life to the fullest. She faced life's challenges and the men who challenged her head on and never apologized when she thought she was right. 

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

The Churchill Sisters

 The Churchill Sisters: The Extraordinary Lives of Winston and Clementine's Daughters- Rachel Trethewey 

St. Martin's Press

Release Date: December  7, 2021

Rating: 📚📚📚

Synopsis:  Bright, attractive and well-connected, in any other family the Churchill girls – Diana, Sarah, Marigold and Mary – would have shone. But they were not in another family, they were Churchills, and neither they nor anyone else could ever forget it. From their father – ‘the greatest Englishman’ – to their brother, golden boy Randolph, to their eccentric and exciting cousins, the Mitford Girls, they were surrounded by a clan of larger-than-life characters which often saw them overlooked. While Marigold died too young to achieve her potential, the other daughters lived lives full of passion, drama and tragedy.

Diana, intense and diffident; Sarah, glamorous and stubborn; Mary, dependable yet determined – each so different but each imbued with a sense of responsibility toward each other and their country. Far from being cosseted debutantes, these women were eyewitnesses at some of the most important events in world history, at Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam. Yet this is not a story set on the battlefields or in Parliament; it is an intimate saga that sheds light on the complex dynamics of family set against the backdrop of a tumultuous century.

Drawing on previously unpublished family letters from the Churchill archives, The Churchill Sisters brings Winston’s daughters out of the shadows and tells their remarkable stories for the first time

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The Churchill Sisters is the first book I've read devoted solely to the daughters of Winston Churchill, where they are the focus instead of mentioned on the sides, as in Lynne Olson's fabulous books Citizens of London and Erik Larson's The Splendid and the Vile. Diana, Sarah, and Mary Churchill each lived in a world where women were, at least initially, considered second to men- and as a man of his era Winston thought this way too.  It was exposure to strong women like his wife Clementine and his daughters that made Winston change his mind. But also in the Churchill house, Winston came first always. Everyone believed his career and his work came first. This, combined with being the children of a great man and being children in a time when their class rarely were raised by their parents, and the childhood the younger generation of Churchills had was quite different from one we would recognize today. Their mother, Clementine, was like many others of her generation and class and was distant from her children, especially when they were young, which all of them came to regret later in life.  

I was a little disappointed with the first half of the book, as it didn't tell me anything particularly new. Anyone who has read The Splendid and the Vile or Citizens of London will know most of the early stories of the girls, particularly the war years as they came into their own helping in the war effort. Author Tretheway lingers a bit on each daughter's psychological need to live up to their parent's expectations but beyond that I didn't learn anything new. The second half, post World War II, however, I found more interesting because that was uncharted territory for me. The tragic stories of Diana and Sarah- each trying to find fulfillment in their own ways and never quite reaching their goals or happiness- were heartbreaking. Sarah and Mary taking turns being the one the others leaned on as the others fell apart, the mental illnesses and emotional collapses each sister experienced but tried to keep from their parents . . . the Churchills seems to be a family ahead of their time in accepting the idea of mental illness and treating it as an illness, one to be handled by doctors and not ignored with a 'stiff upper lip', which I was impressed by. 

Each daughter tried to live up to the father their worshipped as a hero and wanted to have look proudly on them, each wanted to make their mother's life a bit easier in caring for that father. Yet they also wanted to be their own person, and went in separate ways to discover who they were and what they might do with their lives. Although constrained at times by the society they grew up in and by the shadow of their father, they each faced life's challenges head on- whether that became constructive or destructive. 

While the writing wasn't always top level and was occasionally repetitive, I would certainly recommend The Churchill Sisters to anyone interested in women's lives over the course of the twentieth century, history buffs, and, of course, Churchill fans. A good new addition to the library, using archives newly opened to researchers.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review