The true story of a sensational marriage and murder in 17th-century London. For fans ofTHE SUSPICIONS OF MR WHICHER and GEORGIANA: DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE - with all the drama of THE FIVELady Bette,the 14-year-old heiress to the vast Northumberland estates,becomes the victim of a plot by her grandmother,the Countess Howard,to marry her off to the dissolute fortune-hunter Thomas Thynn,a man three times her age with an evil reputation. Revolted by her new husband,Lady Bette flees to Holland. Within weeks,Thynn is gunned down in the street by three hired assassins.Who is behind the contract killing Is it the Swedish Count Coningsmark,young and glamorous with blond hair down to his waist Or is it a political assassination as the anti-Catholic press maintains Thynn was,after all,a key player in the Protestant faction to exclude the Catholic James,Duke of York,as his brother Charles II's successor.Nigel Pickford creates a world of tension and insecurity,of constant plotting and counter-plotting and of rabid anti-Catholicism,where massive street demonstrations and public Papal burnings are weekly events. The action moves from the great landed estates of Syon and Petworth to the cheap taverns and brothels of London,and finally to Newgate and the gallows - the sporting spectacle of the day. In the process,the book gives us a vivid and deeply researched portrait of Restoration society.
Publisher: Orion Publishing CoISBN: 9781399614962Number of pages: 304Weight: 267 gDimensions: 196 x 130 x 28 mm
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Money,power,ambition,political and royal conspiracy,a young heiress in distress,a fortune-hunter shot down in the street: you couldn't make it up. You don't have to. The story of 14-year-old Lady Bette Percy,married off by her grandmother to Thomas Thynn,a middled-aged rake,for control of her Northumberland estates,is the stuff of Gothic romance or Restoration blood and thunder drama.Pickford has unearthed a fascinating early example of the modern murder...this meticulously researched story of a scandalous marriage and sensational murder is engrossingly told.Pickford's narrative conjures up scenes straightfrom a Gainsborough melodrama - murder,mystique and wealth set to the backdropof the sleazy world of London's taverns and brothels,to the grandeur of Syonand Petworth's vast estates. The prose is vivid and atmospheric,where a trip tothe gallows was the height of entertainment. As they say,truth is stranger thanfiction.Pickford has marshalled an extraordinary historical cast and provides an exciting and truly well-informed whodunit.Money,power,ambition,political and royal conspiracy,a young heiress in distress,a fortune-hunter shot down in the street: you couldn't make it up. You don't have to. The story of 14-year-old Lady Bette Percy,married off by her grandmother to Thomas Thynn,a middled-aged rake,for control of her Northumberland estates,is the stuff of Gothic romance or Restoration blood and thunder drama.Pickford has unearthed a fascinating early example of the modern murder...this meticulously researched story of a scandalous marriage and sensational murder is engrossingly told.Pickford's narrative conjures up scenes straightfrom a Gainsborough melodrama - murder,mystique and wealth set to the backdropof the sleazy world of London's taverns and brothels,to the grandeur of Syonand Petworth's vast estates. The prose is vivid and atmospheric,where a trip tothe gallows was the height of entertainment. As they say,truth is stranger thanfiction.Pickford has marshalled an extraordinary historical cast and provides an exciting and truly well-informed whodunit.
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