Customer Reviews

Aristocrats: Caroline, Emily, Louisa, and Sarah Lennox 1740-1832

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Living in Ireland as I do one is surrounded by historical buildings.I was familiar with Leinster House,Carton House and Castletown House already and found this book has made those old houses far more interesting.Having finished the book I decided to visit Celbridge,Co. Kildare,which is where one finds Castletown House and also the house where Sarah lived.
Driving along the main street of the village I turned off towards Tea Lane and halfway up I saw Sarah`s house,now part of a school.Just up the road was the graveyeard where Louisa is buried but the gates were locked.I went back down the main street to the end of the village and drove along an avenue of trees to Castletown House.It is almost 300 years old and the Irish government has spent seven million euros or dollars to conserve it.Much work remains to be done but I really felt close to Louisa,Emily and Sarah after my visit there.If you plan to visit an ancient Irish house I suggest you read Aristocrats and then go to Castletown.Carton House in nearby and is now becoming part of a golf course.Leinster House is the seat of the Irish parliament and The White House is reputed to be modelled on it.
Of the women themselves I found Caroline the most sophisticated and interesting.I was really struck by how much pain each suffered during their lives.Emily buried 12 of her 22 children and they were not all babies either,so one appreciates modern medicine more after reading about such mortality.

I had already read 'Emily,Duchess of Leinster a few years before and visited Carton House for a private viewing so I was very pleased to read more about the lives of her sisters. I found this book very enjoyable and also read Lord Edward I am now looking forward to reading the book about Sarah's sons, the Napiers. I believe this is to be published soon . I also heard there was to be a series on the B.B.C of the Aristocrats. I really believe Sally Tillyard has a genuine feeling for the Lennox family and hope she writes more about this interesting family. I feel she made the historical facts interesting and easy to read for anyone not quite interested in such detail. There were parts of the biogaphy which I found a little hard to believe but perhaps I have a very innocent picture of Emily and could not have believed she would have an affair with Mr. Ogilvie. The book showed how families have not really changed through time. Sisters always stand by each other and Sally gave us an insight into how normal aristocrats really were. After reading this book it is easy to read Georgiana, Duchess of Devenshire as the Fox relatives of Emily feature there and it is interesting how Caroline Lennox's son rose in English history. I highly recommend this book and look forward to any book written by Stella Tillyard.

Kathleen Connolly.

Stella Tillyard does an amazing job bringing the Lennox sisters to life. I felt as though I knew each sister quite well once I had finished the book---and I only wished I could have spent even more time with them.
Sarah Lennox's story was undoubtedly the most interesting (early on she was tapped as a possible wife for George III, she then fell into an unhappy marriage, embarked on a scandalous affair, was divorced, and then ultimately found happiness with a man who came from a social background beneath hers). Lennox's comment that "she only knew true happiness after the age of 36" was especially poignant after reading abt her privileged upbringing. Despite her unhappiness, Lennox managed to live life to the fullest.
In fact, all of the sisters managed to live life to the fullest---from Caroline who eloped with the radical Henry Fox to Emily who passed through all of the stages of marriage (from happiness to dissatisfaction which ultimately caused her to have an affair).
I can't recommend this book too highly---my only regret after reading it was that I would never be able to meet and hang out with any of the Lennox sisters!

These are the life stories of four remarkable women,the Lennox sisters,daughters of the 2nd Duke of Richmond and great grandaughters of Charles the second of England and his mistress,Louise de Keroualle,and was taken from the thousands of letters which circulated amongst them over their lifetimes. The author,Stella Tilyard has meticulously recounted not only the letters,but also the social customs,fashions in clothing and house decorating and the whole way of life amongst the aristocrats of London and Dublin of that era which spans the years of the reigns of George 2nd,George 3rd and the Prince Regent. Each of these sisters lived an extraordinary life,having been educated far above the usual standard required of upper class young women of their day.There is quite a bit of English political history included in the book(which is why I deducted one star),but although this can get a bit ponderous at times,doesn't distract from the overall story.I thoroughly enjoyed it and am looking forward to seeing the t.v.series.

Tillyard's book brings to life a composite portrait of four of the most glorious demimondaines of the eighteenth century, all four of whom led lives of incredible brilliance and sparkle. One of the sisters was the Duchess of Leinster; another married Fox; a third was the beloved of George III before he had to give way to politics and marry a German princess of much less beauty and vivacity. This book does a fine job brining to life the intricate world of the highest crust of Georgian aristocracy--it's a splendid follow-up for any who have enjoyed GEORGIANA, DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE.

This case study of a socially and politically prominent family of bluebloods throughout the Hanoverian and Regency periods actually begins with Charles Lennox (created 1st Duke of Richmond), who was the illegitimate offspring of Charles II and Louise de Kéroualle (created Duchess of Portsmouth as a reward). The four ladies in question were daughters of the second duke and the great-granddaughters of the king. All of them married leading politicians and/or peers, all were both very private and very much in the public eye, and all were well educated, especially for women in that time. Because they were women, their influence was necessarily indirect, but they certainly were influential -- although, as Tillyard, an award-winning historian, shows, they were more concerned with family matters: childrearing, household finances, entertaining on behalf of their husbands, and trying to maintain a degree of personal freedom. But above all, they were always aware of their origins. Since this book was written for the popular market, there are no footnotes, but the author's use of public documents and private family journals and correspondence is extensive, and quotations are frequent.

These are the life stories of four remarkable women,the Lennox sisters,daughters of the 2nd Duke of Richmond and great grandaughters of Charles 2nd of Great Britain and his mistress Louise de Keroualle, and was taken from the thousands of letters which circulated amongst them over their lifetimes.The author,Stella Tillyard has meticulously recounted not only the letters but also the social customs,fashions in clothing and house decorating and the whole way of life amongst the aristocrats of London and Dublin of that era which spans the years of the reigns of George 2nd,George 3rd and the Prince Regent. Each of these sisters lived an extraordinary life,having been educated far and above the usual standard required of upper class young women of their day.There is quite a bit of English political history included in the book,but although this can get a bit ponderous at times,doesn't distract from the overall story.I thoroughly enjoyed it and am looking forward,eagerly,to the t.v. series.

The sisters' stories bring history alive. We learn how they lived, what they read, how they socialized, what they thought, in an easy-to-read compilation of their letters to each other. Their emotions and family relations reflect those of today, and they provide a fascinating context to our own lives. Wonderful book!

When I lived in England some years ago I read this book and recommended it to a dear friend who was incontestably an "Aristocrat" in every sense that it's used in Britain. My friend said that she was reading it, too, and though she could barely bring herself to pronounce the name of the book (which she considered embarassing), she loved it because it perfectly evoked the 18th century as history, and yet was as engrossing a page-turner as a novel. Stella Tillyard gets it just right in her fine quadruple biography. Buy it!

With consummate skill, Tillyard weaves four lives into a story by turns immediate and historically curious. We meet the earnest, emotional Caroline, a force in the lives of her politician husband and son; the regal Emily, mother of 22 children; Louisa, devout, wealthy, and careful of emotions; and the fallen Sarah, redeemed through a military marriage. Wound throughout are the persons, places, and events of Georgian England and Ireland, which affected all four only too closely. Letters are written, secrets are kept, marriages are made and unmade. In the end, the stratagems each sister devises to live her life in that time are truly fascinating -- and often very familiar.