The Kings' Mistresses

The Kings' Mistresses

Author: Elizabeth C Goldsmith

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 2012-04-03

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 1586488902

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The Mancini Sisters, Marie and Hortense, were born in Rome, brought to the court of Louis XIV of France, and strategically married off by their uncle, Cardinal Mazarin, to secure his political power base. Such was the life of many young women of the age: they had no independent status under the law and were entirely a part of their husband's property once married. Marie and Hortense, however, had other ambitions in mind altogether. Miserable in their marriages and determined to live independently, they abandoned their husbands in secret and began lives of extraordinary daring on the run and in the public eye. The beguiling sisters quickly won the affections of noblemen and kings alike. Their flight became popular fodder for salon conversation and tabloids, and was closely followed by seventeenth-century European society. The Countess of Grignan remarked that they were traveling "like two heroines out of a novel." Others gossiped that they "were roaming the countryside in pursuit of wandering lovers. "Their scandalous behavior -- disguising themselves as men, gambling, and publicly disputing with their husbands -- served as more than just entertainment. It sparked discussions across Europe concerning the legal rights of husbands over their wives. Elizabeth Goldsmith's vibrant biography of the Mancini sisters -- drawn from personal papers of the players involved and the tabloids of the time -- illuminates the lives of two pioneering free spirits who were feminists long before the word existed.


Wives and Mistresses

Wives and Mistresses

Author: Suzanne Morris

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2016-01-12

Total Pages: 997

ISBN-13: 150402897X

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A dynastic tale of two families—the Gerrards and Leiders—as seen through the eyes of four women whose lives are bound by blood and friendship, and interwoven with the destiny of Houston, Texas, for over 70 years.


Mistress of the Ritz

Mistress of the Ritz

Author: Melanie Benjamin

Publisher: Dell

Published: 2019-05-21

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 039918225X

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A captivating novel based on the story of the extraordinary real-life American woman who secretly worked for the French Resistance during World War II—while playing hostess to the invading Germans at the iconic Hôtel Ritz in Paris—from the New York Times bestselling author of The Aviator's Wife and The Swans of Fifth Avenue. “A compelling portrait of a marriage and a nation at war from within.”—Kate Quinn, author of The Alice Network Nothing bad can happen at the Ritz; inside its gilded walls every woman looks beautiful, every man appears witty. Favored guests like Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Coco Chanel, and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor walk through its famous doors to be welcomed and pampered by Blanche Auzello and her husband, Claude, the hotel’s director. The Auzellos are the mistress and master of the Ritz, allowing the glamour and glitz to take their minds off their troubled marriage, and off the secrets that they keep from their guests—and each other. Until June 1940, when the German army sweeps into Paris, setting up headquarters at the Ritz. Suddenly, with the likes of Hermann Goëring moving into suites once occupied by royalty, Blanche and Claude must navigate a terrifying new reality. One that entails even more secrets and lies. One that may destroy the tempestuous marriage between this beautiful, reckless American and her very proper Frenchman. For in order to survive—and strike a blow against their Nazi “guests”—Blanche and Claude must spin a web of deceit that ensnares everything and everyone they cherish. But one secret is shared between Blanche and Claude alone—the secret that, in the end, threatens to imperil both of their lives, and to bring down the legendary Ritz itself. Based on true events, Mistress of the Ritz is a taut tale of suspense wrapped up in a love story for the ages, the inspiring story of a woman and a man who discover the best in each other amid the turbulence of war. Praise for Mistress of the Ritz “No one writes of the complexities of women’s lives and loves like Melanie Benjamin. In Mistress of the Ritz, Benjamin brings wartime Paris brilliantly to life. . . . Intense, illuminating, and ultimately inspiring!”—Elizabeth Letts, New York Times bestselling author of Finding Dorothy


A Precious Jewel

A Precious Jewel

Author: Mary Balogh

Publisher: Dell

Published: 2009-11-24

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 0440244633

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New York Times bestselling author Mary Balogh weaves a sensuous spell of romance that brings together the unlikeliest pair of lovers in the unlikeliest place of all–an infamous London house of pleasure. She was unlike any woman he’d ever met in the ton or the demimonde. But Sir Gerald Stapleton frequented Mrs. Blyth’s euphemistically dubbed “finishing school” for pure, uncomplicated pleasure–and nothing else. So why was this confirmed bachelor so thoroughly captivated by one woman in particular? Why did he find himself wondering how such a rare jewel of grace, beauty, and refinement as Priss had ended up a courtesan? And when she needed protection, why did Gerald, who’d sworn he’d never get entangled in affairs of the heart, hasten to set her up as his own pampered mistress to ensure her safety–and have her all to himself? For Priscilla Wentworth, the path leading to Sir Gerald’s bed had been as filled with misfortune as it suddenly seemed charmed. But Priss couldn’t allow herself to believe she’d ever be more to a man like Sir Gerald than a well-cared-for object of pleasure. Now, despite Gerald’s deep distrust of marriage, neither scandal nor society’s censure can keep them apart–only the fear of trusting their hearts.


The Other Boleyn Girl (Movie Tie-In)

The Other Boleyn Girl (Movie Tie-In)

Author: Philippa Gregory

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2008-01-22

Total Pages: 678

ISBN-13: 1416560602

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The daughters of a ruthlessly ambitious family, Mary and Anne Boleyn are sent to the court of Henry VIII to attract the attention of the king, who first takes Mary as his mistress, in which role she bears him an illegitimate son, and then Anne as his wife. Reprint. 250,000 first printing. (A Columbia Pictures film, written by Peter Morgan, directed by Justin Chadwick, releasing Fall 2007, starring Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Eric Bana, and others) (Historical Fiction)


Readers and mistresses

Readers and mistresses

Author: Katie R. Peel

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Published: 2024-09-24

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 1526176467

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Readers and Mistresses: Kept Women in Victorian Literature identifies kept mistresses in British Victorian narrative and offers ways to understand their experiences. The author discusses kept women characters in Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, Elizabeth Gaskell’s Mary Barton and Ruth, Anne Brontë’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, and George Eliot’s Daniel Deronda, and examines the methods their authors use to encourage reader empathy. This book also usefully demonstrates how to identify kept women when they are less visible in texts, including in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, Dickens' Hard Times and Dombey and Son, and George Gissing's The Odd Women.


The Mistress's Revenge

The Mistress's Revenge

Author: Tamar Cohen

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2011-06-07

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 145163286X

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There’s a fine line between love and hate. For five years, Sally and Clive have been lost in a passionate affair. Now he has dumped her to devote himself to his wife and family, and Sally is left in freefall. It starts with a casual stroll past his house, and popping into the brasserie where his son works. Then Sally starts following Clive’s wife and daughter on Facebook. But that’s alright, isn’t it? These are perfectly normal things to do. Aren’t they? Not since Fatal Attraction has the fallout from an illicit affair been exposed in such a sharp, darkly funny, and disturbing way: The Mistress’s Revenge is a truly exciting fiction debut. After all, who doesn’t know an otherwise sane woman who has gone a little crazy when her heart was broken? “A cracking debut. . . .very Fatal Attraction with a clever twist at the end. Addictive stuff.” —The Bookseller


Memoirs of a Geisha

Memoirs of a Geisha

Author: Arthur Golden

Publisher: Longman

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781405882675

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"Captivating, minutely imagined . . . a novel that refuses to stay shut" ("Newsweek"), "Memoirs of a Geisha" is now released in a movie tie-in edition.


The Mistress

The Mistress

Author: Philippe Tapon

Publisher: Plume Books

Published: 2000-01-21

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 9780452280588

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Set in Nazi-occupied Paris during World War II, The Mistress is an enthralling tale of jealousy, love, betrayal, and one woman's cunning revenge. The characters -- Dr. Emile Bastien, a physician who treats Parisians and Germans alike from his office on rue de Maubeuge; Simone, his nurse and illicit lover; and Bastien's sour wife and two scheming children, tucked away on a French country estate -- all share a deep and suspicious desire. As Bastien's mistress, Simone knows all of his most dangerous secrets -- except the one that he and his family are trying desperately to keep from her. But clever Simone, always one step ahead, manages to conceal her greed while weaving a web of deception that will ensnare those who have turned against her and ensure her singular reward. The Mistress is darkly atmospheric and erotically charged -- a tour-de-force with stunning twists and turns that will haunt readers long after its secrets have been revealed.