{"product_id":"mistresses-of-cliveden-hb-z44","title":"Natalie Livingstone: The Mistresses of Cliveden: Three Centuries of Scandal, Power and Intrigue in an English Stately Home [2015] hardback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA Sunday Times bestseller, The Mistresses of Cliveden is the extraordinary story of how five women used their home to influence British society. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom its dawn in the 1660s to its twilight in the 1960s, Cliveden was an emblem of elite misbehaviour and intrigue. Conceived by the Duke of Buckingham as a retreat for his scandalous affair with Anna-Maria, Countess of Shrewsbury, the house later served as the backdrop for the Profumo Affair, which would bring down a government and change the course of British history. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the three hundred years between the Countess and Christine Keeler, the house was occupied by a dynasty of remarkable women: Elizabeth Villiers, an intellectual who brokered the rise and fall of governments; Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, a minor German royal who almost became queen of England; Harriet Duchess of Sutherland, the glittering society hostess turned political campaigner; and Nancy Astor, the consummate controversialist who became the first woman to take a seat in parliament. Under the direction of these women, Cliveden provided a stage for political plots and artistic premieres, hosted grieving monarchs and republican radicals, was idealised as a family home, and maligned as a threat to national security.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Mistresses of Cliveden\u003c\/i\u003e is by turns a historical epic, a political thriller, a family drama, and an intimate history of the relationships between people and place. Above all, it is a story about sex and power, and the ways in which exceptional women have evaded, exploited, and confronted the expectations of their times.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Livingstone, Natalie","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":42321414914233,"sku":"9780091954529","price":9.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0616\/4001\/6057\/files\/livingstone-natalie-natalie-livingstone-the-mistresses-of-cliveden-three-centuries-of-scandal-power-and-intrigue-in-an-english-stately-home-2015-hardback-9780091954529-58269230956883.jpg?v=1726874600","url":"https:\/\/chaptersbookstore.com\/products\/mistresses-of-cliveden-hb-z44","provider":"Chapters Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}