As part of the Bookollective on Twitter team, I was extremely lucky to receive a copy of this beautiful book in return for a fair and honest review.
I've found that the older I've got, the more my love for history has increased. So this book was fascinating to me as I'd heard very little of Lady Georgiana Lennox as I'm sure many others have done, but once you hear her story you do begin to wonder why that is as she led a pretty amazing life surrounded by so many of the major historical figures - no more so than the Duke of Wellington who she was great friends with throughout her life, and through such an amazing period of history. They shared many letters and meetings and although many of the letters didn't survive, you get a real taste of their closeness in this book. The Duke of Wellington seemed to appreciate her way of behaving around him - she treated him normally and never seemed to feel intimidated by powerful men.
Found the writing style so easy to follow and was completely swept along by the characters and the background of the time, the struggles Lady Georgiana and her family faced, and how it all related to what was happening at the time especially the Battle of Waterloo which took place the day after the family hosted a famous ball in Brussels the night before. The fact that such a glamourous ball took place to entertain those in society, and then the following day many of the family and invited guests were tending to the injured from the battlefield showed how quickly life would change for many.
She led an amazing life which wasn't all plain sailing and this book added a great insight into how life was for many while major historical events were unfurling.
She came across as a pretty independant woman from the get go, despite the pressure of the family to marry into money, especially as she came from a very large family. She was one of 14 and you did get to see the importance placed on the girls of the family to marry well. She also had a calmness about her and no matter what was going on in her life, whether good or bad, she was the type to adapt and just to get on with things.
There are also some fascinating illustrations and photographs included which add colour to this fascinating observation into an extremely interesting woman and family.
Really learnt so much from this book so will be looking into more historical books from the time and can highly recommended this to those who love history, especially through the Regency to Victorian period.