Overview

This compelling and richly researched book presents a fascinating portrait of Mary Robinson–darling of the London stage, mistress to the most powerful men in England, feminist thinker, and bestselling author. Though one of the most flamboyant free spirits of the late eighteenth century, Mary led a life that was marked by reversals of fortune. After being abandoned by her father, Mary was married, at age fifteen, to Thomas Robinson, whose dissipation landed the couple and their baby in debtors’ prison. On her release, Mary rose to become one of the London theater’s most alluring actresses, famously playing Perdita in The Winter’s Tale for a rapt audience that included the Prince of Wales, who fell madly in love with her. Never one to pass up an opportunity, she later used his ardent love letters for blackmail. After being struck down by paralysis, apparently following a miscarriage, she remade herself yet again, this time as a popular writer who was also admired by the leading intellectuals of the day. Filled with triumph and despair and grand accomplishments, the amazing life of “Perdita” is marvelously captured in this stunning biography.

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9780812970791

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Reviews

A remarkable woman and an exceptional biography. <br>-Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire <br> Utterly absorbing, Paula Byrne's intensely researched Perdita aims to restore a measure of fame to a woman who, though a product of her time, seems our near-contemporary in her understanding of the workings of celebrity. <br>-Vogue <br> A fascinating, page-turning, and probably definitive biography of this intriguing woman. <br>-Emma Donoghue, author of Life Mask and Slammerkin <br> A fine biographer has conjured up a dazzling personality and brought her, laughing, back to life. <br>-Miranda Seymour, The Sunday Times (London) <br> A work of genuine scholarship . . . a masterly portrait of a remarkable woman. <br>-Sunday Telegraph (London)

A remarkable woman and an exceptional biography. <br>-Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire<br><br> Utterly absorbing, Paula Byrne's intensely researched Perdita aims to restore a measure of fame to a woman who, though a product of her time, seems our near-contemporary in her understanding of the workings of celebrity. <br>-Vogue<br><br> A fascinating, page-turning, and probably definitive biography of this intriguing woman. <br>-Emma Donoghue, author of Life Mask and Slammerkin<br><br> A fine biographer has conjured up a dazzling personality and brought her, laughing, back to life. <br>-Miranda Seymour, The Sunday Times (London)<br><br> A work of genuine scholarship . . . a masterly portrait of a remarkable woman. <br>-Sunday Telegraph (London)

A remarkable woman and an exceptional biography. -Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire Utterly absorbing, Paula Byrne's intensely researched Perdita aims to restore a measure of fame to a woman who, though a product of her time, seems our near-contemporary in her understanding of the workings of celebrity. -Vogue A fascinating, page-turning, and probably definitive biography of this intriguing woman. -Emma Donoghue, author of Life Mask and Slammerkin A fine biographer has conjured up a dazzling personality and brought her, laughing, back to life. -Miranda Seymour, The Sunday Times (London) A work of genuine scholarship . . . a masterly portrait of a remarkable woman. -Sunday Telegraph (London)

“A remarkable woman and an exceptional biography.” –Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire “Utterly absorbing, Paula Byrne’s intensely researched Perdita aims to restore a measure of fame to a woman who, though a product of her time, seems our near-contemporary in her understanding of the workings of celebrity.” –Vogue “A fascinating, page-turning, and probably definitive biography of this intriguing woman.” –Emma Donoghue, author of Life Mask and Slammerkin “A fine biographer has conjured up a dazzling personality and brought her, laughing, back to life.” –Miranda Seymour, The Sunday Times (London) “A work of genuine scholarship . . . a masterly portrait of a remarkable woman.” –Sunday Telegraph (London)

A remarkable woman and an exceptional biography. -Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire Utterly absorbing, Paula Byrne's intensely researched Perdita aims to restore a measure of fame to a woman who, though a product of her time, seems our near-contemporary in her understanding of the workings of celebrity. -Vogue A fascinating, page-turning, and probably definitive biography of this intriguing woman. -Emma Donoghue, author of Life Mask and Slammerkin A fine biographer has conjured up a dazzling personality and brought her, laughing, back to life. -Miranda Seymour, The Sunday Times (London) A work of genuine scholarship . . . a masterly portrait of a remarkable woman. -Sunday Telegraph (London)

Author Information

PAULA BYRNE has a Ph.D. from the University of Liverpool, where she is a research fellow in English literature. A regular contributor to The Times Literary Supplement, she lives in Warwickshire with her two young children and her husband, the critic and biographer Jonathan Bate. Perdita is her first book to be published in the U.S.

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