Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #204066 in Books
• Published on: 2005-01-17
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Sunday Telegraph
'This authoritative and engaging biography captures her life in all its extraordinary, disgraceful, triumphant and romantic glory.'

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

Sunday Times
'excellent, scrupulously researched biography'

Customer Reviews

a work of genuine scholarship
We have a lot to thank Richard Holmes for (that's Holmes the biographer, not Holmes the military historian!): his *Shelley: The Pursuit* set the pattern for biographies of the Romantic poets that involve deep research into the literary culture of the late Georgian period, footstepping the places that inspired the poems, and piecing together fragments from letters and memoirs. Holmes' subsequent 2 volume biography of Coleridge, Ackroyd's Blake and Jonathan Bate's astonishing John Clare are the best examples. Now at last we have something similar for a leading woman Romantic - though Paula Byrne had the toughest job because so few letters survive and Robinson's memoir is so unreliable. Coleridge may have over-estimated her gifts as a poet - I think Byrne is right that the novels of manners are Robinson's greatest achievement - but it is an extraordinary story, impeccably researched, a work of lasting scholarship. Now, what about someone doing the same for Helen Maria Williams or Laetitia Landon?

Drags on and on and on and doesn't get to the point....
What a shame!!This book could have been so gripping and so interesting. Mary Robinson was obviously a very colourful figure with an amazing life (She achieved more than we mere mortals can even dream of!) But (the big BUT) the author (Paula Byrne) just does not have a grip on how to keep a reader interested. She drags on, she repeats herself, she makes a great character a complete bore!! I gave up half way through and so did my village book group we all agreed this really was a drag. Instead read Georgina:Duchess of Devonshire, that is a delight and does the woman justice.

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.