My Lady Scandalous: The Amazing Life and Outrageous Times of Grace Dalrymple Elliott, Royal Courtesan [Hardcover]

Jo Manning (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 23, 2005

In the Sin City of London in the late eighteenth century, partying, whoring and gambling were endemic. Money ruled and anything went - for men. Women, in contrast, had everything to lose, starting with their reputations. Even so, not every woman was cowed by convention. Some, like beautiful Grace Dalrymple Elliott, brazenly did whatever they wished with whomever they pleased - and flourished brilliantly as a result. "My Lady Scandalous" recreates the life and fast times of one of the era's most colourful characters, who went from Edinburgh schoolgirl to Europe's most sought-after courtesan. Men competed for her favours even as her society doctor husband pursued a divorce. Grace became mistress to England's notorious Lord Cholmondeley and gave birth to a daughter, Georgiana (who may in fact have been the child of the Prince of Wales). Grace's liaison with France's richest man, Phillippe, Duc d'Orleans, proved perilous as d'Orleans fell to the Revolution's guillotine, just as Grace escaped with her life. Jo Manning, a gifted writer and connoisseur of the times, enriches the details of Grace's life, from the journal published posthumously, with excerpts from contemporary newspapers, magazines, prints and portraits. "My Lady Scandalous" is a captivating portrait of this darling of kings and princes, an irresistibly unconventional woman whose story cannot fail to fascinate.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The antics of today's celebrities aren't a patch on some of the goings-on in late--eighteenth-century England if this book about the life and times of Georgian party-girl Elliott is anything to go by. Married early and soon divorced (for adultery), Grace slept her way to the top, her every move gleefully documented by the scandal sheets of the day. Her only child may have been fathered by the Prince of Wales. A liaison with the fabulously rich Duc d'Orleans landed Grace in Paris in time for the French Revolution, where she came perilously close to being guillotined. No one can say Manning (also the author of several Regency romances) didn't do her homework, and she provides much (sometimes too much) detail about life high and low during the period--English divorce laws, the types of condoms available, the French Revolutionary calendar. Promotional copy is touting this book as something for Jane Austen fans, but Austen's decorous heroines would never have crossed paths with Grace and her cohorts. Great fun. Mary Ellen Quinn
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"A wickedly good read about a lady no better than she should be. A storehouse of information as well as a witty commentary on the times, My Lady Scandalous is nonfiction that reads like the very best fiction."

-- Edith Layton, author of Alas, My Love and The Return of the Earl

"What a delight! Jo Manning's My Lady Scandalous brings to life the scandals and excesses of the late Georgian period through the life of a strong, unconventional woman who was not only the mistress of royalty, but who barely survived the Reign of Terror. A feast for lovers of social history, My Lady Scandalous entertains as well as educates."

-- Mary Jo Putney, New York Times bestselling author of Stolen Magic and A Kiss of Fate --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 414 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First edition (August 23, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 074326262X
• ISBN-13: 978-0743262620
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #748,459 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretend you're on the phone., January 3, 2006

By 

E. A. Montgomery (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Lady Scandalous: The Amazing Life and Outrageous Times of Grace Dalrymple Elliott, Royal Courtesan (Hardcover)

This is an interesting book. It isn't a serious biography in the mold we're used to, nor is it a popular history exactly. My Lady Scandalous is a fun read that teaches you much more in retrospect than you think you're getting while you read it. I've read any number of serious and popular histories of the era and still came away with new information.

Grace is a bit of an enigma but the author has a real affection for her that makes up for the scarcity of information she's working with. This book should be approached like a conversation with a good friend on a topic she's very interested in. In the places where you might ask for more information, the author has a side bar ready. In the places where the author is really intrigued by something she can go on a bit long or take the tangent too far, but never in a ponderous or boring way. Every side road leads to interesting sights along the way (did you know condoms were worn two at a time and reused?).

Jo Manning goes out of her way to verify and reverfiy her facts. This diligence allows the reader to feel comfortable when she indulges her personal observations along the way. Conversational is the word I come back to for style. Ostensibly, the book is about a woman ahead of and victimized by her time. I came away thinking not so much about Grace, the alleged subject, as I did about the terror in the French Revolution and how Colonial America didn't seem terribly concerned about it. I found myself contemplating the odd dynamics of the Royal family with it's non-legitimate offspring and the difficulty of tracking bloodlines in a class obsessed with them. Grace came along later in my thoughts, but when she arrived she was more dimensional than I expected.

Give the author some leeway and you'll have a first rate read.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AN ILLUMINATING LOOK AT LIFE IN THE 18TH CENTURY, November 29, 2005

By 

Daniele Desmoulins (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Lady Scandalous: The Amazing Life and Outrageous Times of Grace Dalrymple Elliott, Royal Courtesan (Hardcover)

Jo Manning's biography of the celebrated Georgian-era courtesan Grace Elliott is a tour de force, and the research is impeccable. Not only is it the first full-length biography of this fascinating woman - whose life included many adventures and who may have been an English spy in France during the French Revolution - but it is a microcosm of a glittering age. Grace flourished in the circle of the Prince of Wales (later to become King George IV), a profligate group of gallants (skirt-chasers and rakes) known as the Carlton House Set. Grace had affairs with more than one member of this group, including George James, Lord Cholmondeley (later the Marquess of Cholmondeley, whose beautiful Palladian estate, Houghton Hall, is in Norfolk). Grace's daughter Georgiana, whom she claimed was the daughter of the prince, could well have been Cholmondeley's daughter. (The Prince of Wales had a policy of neither denying nor confirming his illegitimate children.) Cholmondeley raised her and saw that she entered into a prestigious marriage with Lord Charles Bentinck, a son of the wealthy Duke of Portland. Georgiana, alas, died young; it was her only child with Lord Charles, Georgina Cavendish-Bentinck, who brought her grandmother's memoir of the French Revolution, Journal of My Life During the French Revolution, to the eminent Victorian publisher Richard Bentley. That memoir, published in 1859, detailed Grace's harrowing experiences during the Reign of Terror. Once Grace's protector, the very wealthy Duc d'Orleans, was executed - he had changed his colors and supported the French Revolution, styling himself Citoyen Egalite, but it didn't help - she herself was thrown in prison. The French director, Eric Rohmer, made a film, L'Anglaise et le Duc/The Lady and the Duke, from this memoir. Grace Elliott's path in life was perhaps not entirely of her own choosing. She became a courtesan when her husband (more than twice her age) divorced her for adultery in 1776. Used to the good life - and life among the rich in 18th century England was very good, indeed - she turned to the oldest profession to support herself in the style to which she'd become accustomed. She didn't have many options; few women in that era had any options at all. The cover of this book is the Gainsborough portrait-bust (1782) of Mrs. Elliott on display at the Frick Collection in New York City. Another portrait - life-size - by Gainsborough (1778) is owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This is a fabulous look at the 18th century as seen through the life of one of its most glamorous women. Hers is a poignant and memorable story. Highly recommended for readers of historical biography and for anyone interested in the 18th century, this beautifully designed book is fleshed out with numerous informative sidebars, word boxes, and hundreds of illustrations. Manning is also the author of several historical romances and other fiction.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Lady Scandalous about Courtesan Grace Elliott Entertains and Educates About The eighteenth century, August 16, 2008

By 

mary greenwood (Orlando, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Lady Scandalous: The Amazing Life and Outrageous Times of Grace Dalrymple Elliott, Royal Courtesan (Hardcover)

Author ofHow to Negotiate Like a Pro: 41 Rules for Resolving Disputes

My Lady Scandalous is a delightful history of Grace Dalrymple Elliott, who was one of the three best-known courtesans of her day. As Manning explains, a courtesan chooses her own patrons often for her own pleasure and in exchange is paid large amounts of money.

There are two ways to read The Lady Scandalous; one is to read straight through and ignore the various asides and notes the author provides. In my opinion, this is a big mistake because much of the joy of the book is learning about the 18th Century. Jo Manning is a retired research librarian and it shows, in a good way.

As a result of reading the notes and asides, I learned a lot about the history of the Elgin Marbles; that cosmetics of the day contained mercury, toxic hallucinogens and lead; that Protestants, including Thomas Jefferson, often sent their children to Convent Schools although he pulled them out when one of his daughters wanted to be a nun; that the first successful hot air balloon flight was made in 1783 in Paris; the differences in the various English titles (duke, marquess, earl, viscount and baron,; and how to prepare a body for the guillotine. Manning gives the full flavor of the 18th Century: the arts, the magazines, the architecture, the painters, such as Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough, the fashions, the parties, the contraceptives, the status of women, and the legal documrnts like divorces and wills.

In addition, I learned a lot of new words such as "the Harleian Miscellany", "ciasbeo" and "d.s.p." The "Harleian Miscellany" is a collection of rare and entertaining pamphlets, etc. found in the library of Edward Harley and known as The Harleian Miscellany. For example, the Lady Harley had so many lovers that her numerous children were referred to as the "Harleian Miscellany." "Ciasbeo" is an admirer of a married woman. "D.s.p." is from the latin "decessit sine prole" means "died without issue." Manning also gives examples of the many synonyms used to describe courtesans, unmarried women, and prostitutes.

This story would never have been told if Jo Manning had not seen the movie, The Lady and the Duke, the French film directed by Eric Rohmer, who got the idea for the film after reading a digest of the memoirs of Grace Elliott, Journal of My Life During the French Revolution.

This Journal was published through the efforts of Grace's granddaughter, Georgina. The story intrigued Manning and she did her extensive research. As a result, she was also able to include many prints, photographs and drawings which really enhance the book.

Grace's daughter, Georgiana Augusta Frederica Elliott, may have been fathered by the Prince of Wales, later to become King George IV. It was estimated that King George III had at least 56 illegitimate grandchildren, who were called "children of the mist." If Grace had been the legal wife of George, Prince of Wales, when she was born, she might even have had a chance to become Queen of England.

Manning makes many parallels between the 18th Century and the 20th Century Royalty, including the marraige of Di and Prince Charles, with Camilla in the wings. Princess Di even had a similar physique to Grace, tall, leggy and athletic.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about the 18th Century. It is a pure delight!