I bought this book from Amazon because I had already read Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman, the biography about Harriet Spencer's (Lady Bessmorough's)sister. I had really enjoyed that book and as I was trying to purchase enough books to get the free shipping that comes with a $25 purchase, I thought "What the Heck"? Well, I must say, I enjoyed this book even more. It is wonderfully written and a very entertaining, interesting read. There are so many Dukes, Duchesses, Lords and Ladies flitting in and out of this time period that it can be very confusing trying to keep track of them all. Author Janet Gleeson does an excellent job of keeping things as simple as possible so that the reader is actually able to get through this book with a minimum of confusion. It also doesn't help that the families keep naming all their children after themselves so that there are so many Harriet's and Georgiana's that that can be confusing in and of itself.

I also liked the way the author separated the chapters by years, covering 1-3 years with each chapter. This also helps tremendously to keep the reader on track.

It helps if you have already some knowledge of the Recency period of England and France, and if you have read the book about Georgiana. But, I think that this book can also be enjoyed all on it's own and will hopefully incite the reader to want to know more about this fascinating period in time, which was not that unlike the 1060's.

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