Divorced wife, infamous mistress, prisoner in France during the French Revolution and the reputed mother of the Prince of Wales’ child, notorious eighteenth-century courtesan Grace Dalrymple Elliott lived an amazing life in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century London and Paris. Strikingly tall and beautiful, later lampooned as ‘Dally the Tall’ in Parisian gossip columns, she left her Scottish roots and convent education behind, to re-invent herself in a ‘marriage a-la-mode’, but before she was even legally an adult she was cast off and forced to survive on just her beauty and wits. The authors of this engaging and, at times, scandalous book intersperse the story of Grace’s tumultuous life with anecdotes of her fascinating family, from those who knew Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, and who helped to abolish slavery, to those who were, like Grace, mistresses of great men. Whilst this book is the most definitive biography of Grace Dalrymple Elliott ever written, it is much more than that; it is Grace’s family history that traces her ancestors from their origin in the Scottish borders, to their move south to London. It follows them to France, America, India, Africa and elsewhere, offering a broad insight into the social history of the Georgian era, comprising the ups and downs, the highs and lows of life at that time. This is the remarkable and detailed story of Grace, set for the first time, in the context of her wider family and told more completely than ever before. AUTHOR: Sarah Murden and Joanne Major are joint authors of this compelling biography, brought together through their shared passion for history and genealogy, having met online via a genealogy forum. Living many hundreds of miles apart from each other, lengthy telephone conversations to discuss ‘long dead folk’ became very much the norm to them, and it was during one of these telephone conversations that they stumbled, accidentally and unintentionally, into the path of this eighteenth-century courtesan. For more information visit www.georgianera.wordpress.com. SELLING POINTS: . The definitive biography of Grace Dalrymple Elliott. . Set in the context of her wider family
Grace’s family history. . Offers a broad insight into Georgian-era social history. . Includes rarely seen illustrations of this notorious eighteenth-century courtesan. . Reveals new and unknown information about Grace.