books that make you go hmmm....



US Release Date:  March 16, 2010
UK Release Date:  April 5, 2010

A riveting recreation of one of Victorian England’s biggest scandals, the first book by a rising talent.

On a steamer passage from France to England in 1852, nineteen-year-old Theresa Longworth met William Charles Yelverton, a soldier destined to become the Viscount Avonmore. A flirtation began that soon blossomed into a clandestine, epistolary affair, ranging from the shores of England to the battlefields of the Crimean War. Five years after their first meeting they married secretly in Edinburgh, and then, at Theresa’s urging, they married again that summer in Dublin—or did they?

Separated by circumstance soon after they were wed, the two would never again live together as man and wife. When Yelverton left Theresa to marry another woman, Theresa found herself having to prove that their marriage had ever existed. Multiple trials ensued, in Ireland, England, and Scotland, and for months their scandal captivated each nation. Newspapers broadcast each detail of the proceedings, songwriters dedicated ballads to Theresa, and novelists such as Wilkie Collins borrowed the courtroom melodrama for their plots. Over the course of the very public ordeal, Theresa lost any chance of a private married life.

In this brilliant debut, Chloë Schama portrays a woman at the forefront of changes that the twentieth century would bring to women’s lives everywhere. Theresa’s story is both a courtroom drama full of steamy intrigue and the chronicle of how one woman made a life for herself as an unmarried author and public speaker in a society that had little space for either. Thrust into the spotlight, Theresa reincarnated herself as “Teresina Peregrina,” traversing the globe and writing about her journeys: she visited the Mormons in the American West, crossed paths with John Muir in Yosemite, and ventured into the far reaches of Asia and Africa, where she spent the last years of her life. Events beyond her control forced Theresa to become a woman of the world, when she would have settled for a world defined by her husband.

In Wild Romance, Chloë Schama unearths the inspiring tale of a woman who held onto her ideals of independence, of self-reliance, and—despite everything—of love, and who never gave up.

PTTP's Amazon US Store | PTTP's Amazon UK Store



Share/Save/Bookmark

7 comments:

  1. Sounds great. I love the cover on the right!

    http://muse-in-the-fog.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  2. An example of a strong woman having to make major changes in her life and reinvent herself. Sad that a man of position could so get away with deserting her. However, she certainly came out stronger and opened the door for future women.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This sounds great! I love Victorian books! Will be looking for this one.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I haven't heard of the scandal, but it sounds both sad and fascinating at the same time.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow, sounds like a great read & unusual too!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sounds interesting. I may give it a go. And I agree the pic on the right is great. I just hope they dont make the MC too modern. I hate that.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I like the sound of this. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts with Thumbnails
 

Passages to the Past
All rights reserved © 2013

Custom Blog Design by Blogger Boutique

Blogger Boutique