Product Description

Sex, fame and scandal in the theatrical, literary and social circles of late 18th-century England. 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, famously playing 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 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, and yet whose fortunes were nevertheless precarious, always on the brink of being squandered through recklessness, excess and passion.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #248755 in Books
• Published on: 2005-01-17
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Review
'Enthralling and perceptive!A fine biographer has conjured up a dazzling personality and brought her, laughing, back to life.' Sunday Times 'Mary Robinson, scandalous darling of the 18th-century stage and letters, is given a welcome rebirth. A full-scale literary biography!a fitting tribute to her.' Observer 'Robinson's is a life that bears the retelling. She cuts a figure in the history of celebrity culture and in literary history. Paula Byrne's full-scale biography is cholarly, lively and important.' Daily Telegraph '!a superbly researched and narrated life of a woman whose capacity for self-transformation, when combined with beauty, talent, wit and passion suggest that she may be the most interesting of all.' Miranda Seymour, Sunday Times Praise for 'Jane Austen and the Theatre': 'This scholarly, perceptive book leaves you wanting more from the same author.' Loraine Fletcher, Independent More praise for 'Jane Austen and the Theatre': 'The definitive and pioneering work on the subject ! Byrne's perspective as a theatre historian exposes much that is original ! Jane Austen and the Theatre has much to say to the theatre historian about an extraordinary member of the late-eighteenth century audience, and a great deal more to teach the literary critic about that theatregoer's own art.' Michael Caines, TLS 'Fascinating and elegant ! invaluable as an academic study of the way that Austen, like Henry James after her, made brilliant use of theatrical techniques.' Miranda Seymour, Spectator

Daily Telegraph
'a candid exploration of an intriguing woman.'

Sunday Times
'excellent, scrupulously researched biography'

Customer Reviews

Richard and Judy Pick A Winner.
I'll confess I would never have looked at this book if it hadn't been for the fact that I decided to read the 10 nominations for Richard and Judy's Best Read 2005.This book has been the biggest pleasant surprise of the lot,because, to be honest, I was not really looking forward to it.
How wrong could I be ? This is a dazzling story of a fascinating woman. I am afraid to say the other biography in the Richard and Judy list,"Feel" by Chris Heath comes off a very poor second when compared to this volume. Sadly of course there's no doubt which book will sell more.I wish all Robbie Williams fans would read this book and find out that maybe their hero's exploits are not so special when compared to what the heroine of this biography got up to.
Mary Robinson, whose nickname was Perdita, was married at 15 and her marriage was something of a disaster and included spending some time in prison with her husband. She then made herself into one of London's most celebrated actresses and was a friend of the outstanding theatrical figures of the day.She became a leading figure in the glamorous high society of the city, reputedly being the most beautiful woman in Britain.She voluntarily gave up her theatrical career to become the mistress of the Prince of Wales, thus heightening her celebrity even further. Reading about this time of her life it appears that she was just as famous or infamous as any contemporary celebrity.Maybe more so.There are many obvious similarities.
In the second half of the book the plot changes almost completely as Mary, after being ditched by her royal lover, re-invents herself as a writer. She is so successful in this enterprise that she becomes one of the leading lady literary figures of the era. She is primarily a poetess, but also writes plays, novels and political tracts and she becomes friendly with both leading political and cultural figures.
It is an absolutely fascinating tale, made more moving perhaps by the fact that she was not lucky in love, suffered a debilitating illness for many years and finally died young at the age of 43.
All this is retold in an easy and entertaining way by Paula Byrne and I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone.Thank you Richard and Judy !

An 18th century feminist ....
A fascinating study of the life of Mary Robinson, who achieved success in the second half of the 18th century as a novelist and poet, contemporary with Coleridge and Wordsworth. She championed the cause of women's education, knew Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin. However, her career began as an actress and willing mistress to the great and (not so) good, particularly the Prince of Wales, later George IV, from whom she demanded a pension because she gave up her acting livelihood to be his mistress. Her treatment by the press of the day was as vitriolic if not worse than the way some celebrities are treated today. This is a really good read.

Fascinating
This book goes in waves - the first third and the last third are very gripping, but the middle section can be repetitive. However, it is a thorough, detailed and gripping look at the fluidity of late Georgian society. Mary Robinson was clearly a fascinating and talented woman whose travails did not really stand in her way. It was sad to see her end so quietly, who had created such a bang throughout the early part of her life, but her correspondence and acquaintance were fascinating.