more non-fiction releases in 2010




Release Date:  October 1, 2010

SYNOPSIS:  The biography of Jane Digby, an 'enthralling tale of a nineteenth-century beauty whose heart -- and hormones -- ruled her head.' Harpers and Queen A celebrated aristocratic beauty, Jane Digby married Lord Ellenborough at seventeen. Their divorce a few years later was one of England s most scandalous at that time. In her quest for passionate fulfilment she had lovers which included an Austrian prince, King Ludvig I of Bavaria, and a Greek count whose infidelities drove her to the Orient. In Syria, she found the love of her life, a Bedouin nobleman, Sheikh Medjuel el Mezrab who was twenty years her junior. Bestselling biographer Mary Lovell has produced from Jane Digby's diaries not only a sympathetic and dramatic portrait of a rare woman, but a fascinating glimpse into the centuries-old Bedouin tradition that is now almost lost.



Release Date:  August 17, 2010

SYNOPSIS:  She was a spirited young heiress. He was a handsome baronet with a promising career in government. The marriage of Lady Seymour Dorothy Fleming and Sir Richard Worsley had the makings of a fairy tale—but ended as one of the most scandalous and highly publicized divorces in history.

In February 1782, England opened its newspapers to read the details of a criminal conversation trial in which the handsome baronet Sir Richard Worsley attempted to sue his wife’s lover for an astronomical sum in damages. In the course of the proceedings, the Worsleys’ scandalous sexual arrangements, voyeuristic tendencies, and bed-hopping antics were laid bare. The trial and its verdict stunned society, but not as much as the unrepentant behavior of Lady Worsley.

Sir Joshua Reynolds captured the brazen character of his subject when he created his celebrated portrait of Lady Worsley in a fashionable red riding habit, but it was her shocking affairs that made her divorce so infamous that even George Washington followed it in the press. Impeccably researched and written with great flair, this lively and moving true history presents a rarely seen picture of aristocratic life in the Georgian era.



Release Date:  August 3, 2010

SYNOPSIS:  Salem witchcraft will always have a magnetic pull on the American psyche. During the 1692 witch trials, more than 150 people were arrested. An estimated 25 million Americans—including author Diane Foulds—are descended from the twenty individuals executed. What happened to our ancestors? Death in Salem is the first book to take a clear-eyed look at this complex time, by examining the lives of the witch trial participants from a personal perspective.  

Massachusetts settlers led difficult lives; every player in the Salem drama endured hardships barely imaginable today. Mercy Short, one of the “bewitched” girls, watched as Indians butchered her parents; Puritan minister Cotton Mather outlived all but three of his fifteen children. Such tragedies shaped behavior and, as Foulds argues, ultimately played a part in the witch hunt’s outcome. A compelling “who’s who” to Salem witchcraft, Death in Salem profiles each of these historical personalities as it asks: Why was this person targeted?



Release Date:  June 22, 2010

SYNOPSIS:  The Romans regarded her as “fatale monstrum”—a fatal omen. Pascal said the shape of her nose changed the history of the world. Shakespeare portrayed her as an icon of tragic love. But who was Cleopatra, really?

We almost feel that we know Cleopatra, but our distorted image of a self-destructive beauty does no justice to Cleopatra’s true genius. In Cleopatra, Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley offers an unexpectedly vivid portrait of a skillful Egyptian ruler. Stripping away our preconceptions, many of them as old as Egypt’s Roman conquerors, Cleopatra is a magnificent biography of a most extraordinary queen.



Release Day:  May 1, 2010

SYNOPSIS:  The scandalous love lives of the British Royal Family. The current Prince of Wales, our future King, has married his mistress and she will become, barring an accident, our next Queen Consort. This is a unique situation and one that is unlikely to be repeated. Of course, only 70 years ago, his great uncle was in a not dissimilar predicament which cost him his throne. Royal Sex show how a certain number of key aristocratic families appear to have cornered the market in providing our monarchs with mistresses over successive centuries. The present Duchess of Cornwall is a prime example, her great-grandmother, Alice Keppel was a mistress of Edward VII, as the Duchess was of Prince Charles. The reason? To capture and exploit royal power and royal patronage to place a royal mistress or favourite at the centre of power.



Release Date:  October 26, 2010

SYNOPSIS:  The riveting history of a beautiful queen, a shocking murder, a papal trial—and a reign as triumphant as any in the Middle Ages. On March 15, 1348, Joanna I , Queen of Naples, stood trial for her life before the Pope and his court in Avignon. She was twenty-two years old. Her cousin and husband, Prince Andrew of Hungary, had recently been murdered, and Joanna was the chief suspect. Determined to defend herself—Joanna won her acquittal against enormous odds. Returning to Naples, she ruled over one of Europe’s most prestigious courts for more than thirty years—until she was herself murdered. 

As courageous as Eleanor of Aquitaine, as astute and determined as Elizabeth I of England, Joanna was the only female monarch in her time to rule in her own name. She was notorious: The taint of her husband’s death never quite left her. But she was also widely admired: Dedicated to the welfare of her subjects and realm, she reduced crime, built hospitals and churches, and encouraged the licensing of women physicians. While a procession of the most important artists and writers of her day found patronage at her glittering court, the turmoil of her times swirled around her: war, plague, intrigue, and the treachery that would, ultimately, bring her down. As she did in her acclaimed Four Queens, Nancy Goldstone takes us back to the turbulent and colorful Middle Ages, and with skill and passion brings fully to life one of history’s most remarkable women. Her research is impeccable, her eye for detail unerring, and in The Lady Queen she paints a captivating portrait of medieval royalty in all its incandescent complexity.

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4 comments:

  1. The Lady in Red sounds fascinating. I added it to my WL and according to Amazon it's being released on July 7th - the sooner the better!

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  2. wow, they all sound good. Especially Joanna, Cleopatra and The biography of Jane Digby.

    http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/

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  3. WOW. What a terrific line-up. There isn't one there I wouldn't want to read. I need to get caught up to be ready for these.

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  4. You always contribute to my book lust!

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