A triumph' -- David Knyaston
'Lively and informative' -- Miranda Seymour
'Essential reading' -- Elizabeth Norton
'Excellent and inciteful' -- Rory Muir
The spellbinding true story of Emily Cowper, Regency socialite turned Victorian powerbroker
Emily, Countess Cowper was stubborn, beautiful and intensely ambitious. She took Regency society by storm, captivating famous statesmen and the young Queen Victoria.
Born the Hon. Emily Lamb, she was brought up at the centre of glamorous Regency high society with its duels and dissipation. Her godmother was the infamous Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, and Lord Byron an acolyte and admirer. When her marriage to Earl Cowper soured, she took a string of lovers, eventually taming a rake: the promising, promiscuous Lord Palmerston.
Emily's life resembled real life Bridgerton - she even inspired the character Cressida Cowper. But her petticoats and parties belied a steely determination. Yearning for power beyond the ballroom, she used her political genius to engineer the premierships of her brother, Lord Melbourne, and her lover, Lord Palmerston. Once in Downing Street, she acted as chief counsel, speechwriter, press officer and tireless schemer for the Whig cause - from women's rights to the eradication of slavery. By proxy she became one of the most powerful people in England and changed the course of history. But her story has never been told - until now.
Written with novelistic richness and extraordinary detail drawn from thousands of intimate letters and journals. The Countess unveils the life of this exceptional woman and offers a new insight into the time in which she lived. Jehanne Wake (Author)
Jehanne Wake is a biographer and historian. She grew up in the Middle East and holds an MA from the University of Oxford. She worked on Wall Street as an investment banker before returning to the UK to become a writer. Her published works include Princess Louise, Queen Victoria's Unconventional Daughter (Harper Collins) and Kleinwort Benson, The History of Two Families in Banking (OUP). She is most recently the author of Sisters of Fortune (Chatto & Windus, PRH) which won widespread critical praise from The New York Times to The Sunday Times. Over the years she has been a contributor to BBC radio and television programmes and C-Span's Book TV, as well as the Oxford New Dictionary of National Biography, and the Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
Katie Wake (Author)
Katie Wake is a partner and board director at Flint Global, a leading political advisory firm, based in London. She started out in journalism, writing and editing for the New Statesman, Sunday Times and Literary Review. In 2009 she joined the civil service fast stream and spent nearly a decade in Whitehall as an adviser to five Cabinet Ministers from across the political spectrum. She holds a BA in History from the University of Bristol and an MPhil in History of the USA from the University of Oxford. This is her first book.
The spellbinding biography of Emily Cowper, Regency socialite turned Victorian powerbroker. This is a wonderfully immersive portrayal of a fascinating character. The writing is wonderful, evoking the era of the book in a way which is truly compelling. Similar titles include Kingmaker, The Fall of the House of Byron and Queen Victoria and her Prime Ministers. This is the first biography that focuses on Emily Cowper, making this a particularly exciting offering in this genre. The authors also include brand-new source material. The subject matter taps into a trend for the Regency era epitomised by the success of Bridgerton. Through Emily, the reader is offered an insight into both the Regency and Victorian eras.
