Shopaholic, social schemer, serial marrier and master builder, Bess in her prime rivalled the power and influence of Elizabeth I. This is a story about mergers and acquisitions. It is also the story of one woman's quest to build the most beautiful house in England - 'Hardwick Hall, more glass than wall'. In this witty, original portrait, Bess emerges as an insatiable force, a towering personality in an age of giant egos.
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“This brief life is a pearl, luminously clear, a pleasure to handle and read.” -- Hilary Spurling, author of The Unknown Matisse
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With the spirit of an adventuress and the heart of a shopkeeper, Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury set out to leave her mark on 16th–century England. A Derbyshire squire’s daughter, she rose, via four well–chosen husbands, to become the second richest woman after Queen Elizabeth I. This is a story about mergers and acquisitions. It is also the story of one woman’s quest—emerging triumphant from the wreckage of her final marriage—to build the most beautiful house in the country. In this sparkling biography, Kate Hubbard weaves the tale of Bess’ life into the construction of Hardwick Hall itself, revealing it to be not just a work of architectural genius, but the expression of a towering, intractable personality.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A shrewd-- or shrewish?-- Countess of Shrewsbury,
By PMcC-DC (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bess of Hardwick 1527-1608: A Material Girl (Short Lives) (Paperback)
This might seem like too brief a book on Bess of Hardwick, a fascinating Elizabethan who outlived four husbands and built some of England's greatest houses. But this book captures the essentials with admirable clarify and doesn't get bogged down in debates about Bess's personality. Was she a long-suffering wife to her last husband, or insanely jealous of his relationship with his captive, Mary Queen of Scots? Was she a shrewd businesswoman or a business-like shrew? The surviving evidence may not resolve these questions, and unlike most writers, Kate Hubbard manages to give us the facts without feeling she has to excuse or condemn Bess.
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