Mrs Jordan's Profession: The Story of a Great Actress and a Future King - Softcover

Tomalin, Claire

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140159231 ISBN 13: 9780140159233

Publisher: Penguin, 1995

Synopsis

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About this title

Review:

'This is a riveting biography...[It] conjures up a rich, alluring period which, in its brittle decadence and love of scandal and flamboyance, often seems closer than the nineteenth century to our own times...the wit and razzle-dazzle of Drury Lane...the cat's cradle of partner swapping among the Sheridans, the Royals and Dora recalls Cosi fan tutte...It is the most haunting biography I have read this year.' -- Jackie Wullschlager, Financial Times 'A brilliant book, even better, if possible, than the author's previous study of Dickens's mistress, The Invisible Woman.' -- Antonia Fraser, Literary Review 'Compelling...beautifully constructed... exceptionally well-written and informed by a vivid sense of the past.' -- John Gross, Sunday Telegraph 'An admirable biography...It is hard to find a fault in her performance. It is one her subject would have esteemed for its technique, brio and human warmth.' -- Pat Rogers, Times Literary Supplement

Synopsis:

Acclaimed as the greatest comic actress of her day, Dora Jordan played a quite different role off-stage as lover to the future king, William IV, third son of George III. In fact, Dora bore no less than ten children and the couple lived happily in a villa on the Thames until William bowed to pressure and abandoned her. Making full use of Dora's letters to William, Claire Tomalin vividly re-creates the royal, political and theatrical worlds of late eighteenth-century England. The story of how Dora moved between stage and home, of how she battled for her family and her career makes a classic tale of royal perfidy and womanly courage. 'Intelligent, finely made and wonderfully readable. As gripping as the best fiction' - Jan Dalley, "Independent on Sunday".

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0140159231
• ISBN 13: 9780140159233
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 448