England's Mistress: The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton

by Kate Williams Narrated by Josephine Bailey

Overview

Emma Hamilton was England's first superstar. She fought her way out of dire poverty to become a fashion icon, an Ambassador's wife, a confidante of both Queen Marie Antoinette and the Queen of Naples, and the mistress of Lord Nelson, England's greatest military hero. Drawing on hundreds of previously undiscovered letters, England's Mistress follows Emma's dramatic journey from the slums of Northern England to the Royal Court of Naples, and from the brothels of St. James's to the tragedy and glory of the Napoleonic wars. Muse and mother, wife and mistress, celebrity and villain, victim and survivor: Emma Hamilton was one of the most remarkable women in British history. Emma set out to make herself a star - and she succeeded beyond even her wildest dreams. By her early twenties, she was the most painted woman of her day. Her 'Attitudes', classical postures in diaphanous outfits, thrilled aristocrats and intellectuals while her innovations in fashion and dress changed the way women looked for ever. Shrewdly manipulating the media's fascination with her, Emma made herself into the most famous woman in England, desired by every man she met, adored by thousands, and, for a time, very rich. Yet, she was willing to throw it all away for the man she loved. Extensively researched but told with a novelist's flair, this is the story of one woman's fight to live on her own terms. England's Mistress captures the relentless drive, innovative style and burning passion of a true heroine.

Editorial Reviews

Emma Williams (1765-1815) was the daughter of a poor village blacksmith, but she never permitted her lowly beginnings to thwart her ambitions. By the time she was 17, she was already a fixture in London society, having graduated from a brothel into the arms of several mistress keepers. After a succession of lovers, she married the aging Sir William Hamilton, the British envoy to Naples. She enriched her husband's Italian portfolio by charming King Ferdinand I, Queen Maria Carolina, Wolfgang von Goethe, and others before she fixed her magic on Napoleonic War hero Lord Horatio Nelson. Her relationship with him (which produced a child) ensured her fame and sealed her doom. This biography, the first in 20 years, redeems the reputation of "England's mistress."

Amanda Vaill

… England's Mistress divertingly and instructively illuminates a time and culture both far away and intriguingly like our own, and resurrects a woman whose mingled vulnerability and resilience -- to say nothing of her glamour -- still have the power to fascinate.
— The Washington Post

Publishers Weekly

In this absorbing, well-crafted biography, British historian, lecturer and TV consultant Williams charts the rise of 18th-century England's most celebrated sex symbol, best known as Admiral Nelson's mistress. Setting the rags-to-riches story of Emma Hamilton (1765-1815) in social and historical context, Williams vividly evokes her impoverished childhood and struggle to survive in London as a servant, theater maid and dancer. Williams details the debacle of Emma's life as a high-class courtesan, rescued while pregnant at age 16 by a calculating young aristocrat, Charles Greville, who transformed Emma into a trendsetting star by commissioning a fashionable artist to produce ravishing portraits of her. Creating a convincing psychological portrait of a seductive, ambitious Emma, Williams entertains with an intimate portrayal of her subject's marriage to William Hamilton, British envoy to Naples (and Greville's much older uncle), who shocked high society by making her his wife. Describing Emma's stage-managed seduction of Nelson, and the pair's passionate affair (which was famously tolerated by William Hamilton), culminating in a love child and a shared residence, Williams conveys the fickle nature of Emma's acceptance by high society. Williams's biography is well paced and pitch perfect, as competent in its storytelling as it is in its authoritative analysis of 18th-century class distinctions. Color photo insert. (Oct. 17) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

The first new monograph on Emma Hamilton in a generation, independent scholar Williams's biography draws on a wide range of archival and historiographical material, some of it unpublished and newly discovered by the author. With more than a whiff of a Regency novel, the book sometimes reads like a made-for-television special, and indeed a contract has been signed for a television docudrama (with the author as presenter). Nevertheless, this is a lively and engaging study of one of the famous-and infamous-beauties of the age. Emma Hamilton (born Amy Lyon) rose from obscure poverty in the north of England to fame and fortune as a celebrated model for the portraitist George Romney, mistress to at least one prominent aristocrat (Lord Charles Greville), and then wife of Sir William Hamilton, one of England's most cultivated diplomats and collectors. The zenith of her career was, of course, her relationship with Horatio Nelson, a liaison whose genesis and tragic end is ably captured here. Renewed interest in Nelson's era following last year's bicentennial of his victory at Trafalgar should generate considerable interest in this title. Recommended for larger public and undergraduate collections. (Illustrations, index, and bibliography not seen).-Matt Todd, Northern Virginia Community Coll. Lib., Alexandria Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A pretty streetwalker from northern England becomes a painter's model, high-class courtesan and then mistress to Lord Nelson himself in this businesslike portrait of Emma Hamilton. British historian Williams begins her subject's rags-to-riches story in squalid, coal-rich Ness, near Liverpool, where Emma, nee Amy Lyon, was forced in her early teens to become a servant when her alcoholic and possibly tubercular father killed himself. When she moved to London, the city's amusements proved more compelling than scrubbing floors; her employer cast her out in the street, but her good looks and determination secured her a job at Drury Lane as a wardrobe mistress, while she moonlighted as a model for artists George Romney and Joshua Reynolds. Top-drawer brothel work followed, then stag parties hosted by aristocrats like Sir Harry of Uppark, who got her pregnant and then passed her off to Charles Grenville of Paddington. She changed her name to Emma Hart and sent for her mother to keep house for her. Once Grenville grew tired of her, she was handed off to his uncle, Sir William Hamilton, who lavished her with riches and actually married her, making her a lady and favorite of aristocrats eager to wear their fashions " . . . la Emma." Nuts-and-bolts prose recounts Emma's incredible rise without a lot of razzle-dazzle: Moving to Naples, she grew close to Queen Maria Carolina and met Lord Nelson on his way through the Mediterranean to resist Napoleon's troops in 1798. Battered, with only one eye and one arm remaining after the Battle of the Nile, the married admiral soon fell for the charming hostess, who set about cuckolding her husband and bearing Lord Nelson a child, to the delight of the press. Inher debut, Williams writes sternly of her often silly protagonist, but drops the occasional feminist justification, e.g., "Despite all her charisma, intelligence, and charm, Emma had no rights and had to rely on what she could win from men."No fascinating new dish here, but a meat-and-potatoes biography. Agent: John Saddler/Curtis Brown UK

From the Publisher

"Read by Josephine Bailey, whose clear and mellow British accent gives the reading an added touch of authenticity, this book is both edifying and entertaining.... A mesmerizing story..." ---Large Print Reviews

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170776405
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	12/01/2006
Edition description:	Unabridged

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