Product Details

• Published on: 2006-08-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Customer Reviews

FROM RAGS TO RICHES...
This is an entertaining and well-written work of historical fiction, telling the story of Sarah Jennings, who rose from rags to riches in the Restoration Court of Charles II. There, thirteen year old Sarah, as a newly appointed maid of honor to the newly wed Duchess York, Mary Beatrice, wife to the King's brother, James, the Duke of York, met and befriended the Dukes daughter, Lady Anne of York, who was five years he junior. As the Lady Anne grew up, she and the beautiful Sarah would form a friendship that would prove fortunate for Sarah and last nearly a lifetime.

The ambitious but impoverished Sarah would disdain the lure of becoming a rich man's mistress. She met and eventually married the equally ambitious John Churchill, a military hero. Happily married, though they lived in one of the most licentious courts in Europe, together they would weather the tumultuousness of Court life and prevail, despite the roadblocks they would meet along the way. They would also help to pave the way for the Anne to take the throne from her father, James, after he became king upon the death of his brother, Charles II.

Sarah's friendship with the newly crowned Queen would bring her and her husband many rewards and provoke much jealousy. Together, Sarah and her husband, John, would grow famously wealthy and achieve great political power, eventually becoming the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough. Sarah's friendship with Anne, however, would eventually meet a most ignominious end, brought about by the machinations of one more ambitious and devious than herself, her own kinswoman, Abigail Masham.

Both Sarah and her husband, stripped of all positions and honors, would leave England in disgrace to wander aimlessly about Europe for two years. Eventually they would be invited by Prince George of Hanover, the Queen's designated heir, to return to London with the promise of John's full restoral of all former ranks and positions. Upon their arrival, they learned the news that the Queen was dead and that Prince George of Hanover was now King George I of England. Sarah and John's homecoming would overshadow the Queen's death, as they were met with adoring crowds that welcomed them home. The King kept his promise and Sarah and John resumed their exalted place in society.

This book is written in the first person, so all events are seen though the eyes of the Duchess. It is a book that those who like historical fiction will enjoy, as it is replete with historical detail, as well as the political intrigues and personages of the day. It is of note that Sarah and John are the ancestors of both Princess Diana and Sir Winston Churchill, both seeming to have followed in their ancestors' footsteps.