The Favourite: The Life of Sarah Churchill and the History Behind the Major Motion Picture
Ophelia Field
(Author)
Description
The scandalous true story of the duchess who became her beloved queen's blackmailer, published in a new and updated edition to coincide with the Oscar nominated film starring Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz. Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, was as glamorous as she was controversial. Politically influential and independently powerful, she was an intimate, and then a blackmailer, of Queen Anne, accusing her of keeping lesbian favourites - including Sarah's own cousin Abigail Masham. Ophelia Field's masterly biography brings Sarah Churchill's own voice, passionate and intelligent, back to life. Here is an unforgettable portrait of a woman who cared intensely about how we would remember her. 'An incredible story crackling with royal passion, envy, ambition and betrayal ... Field's account of the psychological power play between Queen Anne and her confidante is surely definitive. A tour de force' Lucy WorsleyProduct Details
Price
$17.99
Publisher
George Weidenfeld & Nicholson
Publish Date
November 20, 2018
Pages
592
Dimensions
5.0 X 7.6 X 1.4 inches | 1.0 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9781474605359
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About the Author
Ophelia Field was born to American parents in Australia in 1971. She read English at Christ Church, Oxford, and gained a Master's in Development Studies at the London School of Economics. She subsequently worked as a policy analyst for several refugee and human rights organizations. Until 2008, she was Director of the Writers in Prison Programme of English PEN. Her first book, The Favourite, was published to wide acclaim in 2002, followed by The Kit-Kat Club in 2008.
Reviews
Nowhere is the subtlety of Ophelia Field's historical understanding more apparent than in her delicate reading of the relationship between Sarah and Anne. That it is Field's first book is something of a wonder ... An outstandingly accomplished debut--GUARDIAN
She is a marvellous subject for a biography and Ophelia Field's book, capacious and beautifully detailed, does her full justice. It is the first work by a writer who is a master of her craft--INDEPENDENT
Other historians have skirted around the true nature of Sarah and Anne's passionate friendship, with its lesbian overtones, but Ophelia Field tackles the subject courageously ... During her long life Sarah managed to quarrel with almost everyone and took great care in editing her papers to ensure that posterity would know her side of the story, which is covered exhaustively by Field in this impressive debut--THE TIMES
Scholarly, highly articulate, and above all never dull--SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
Field has created an unforgettable picture of a remarkable figure ... Instead of fictionalizing her, Field shows how Sarah became a kind of fictional and artistic icon, a symbol of certain kinds of power that remained free of the checks and balances that the new settlement and constitution was bent on establishing. Even after 250 years, she fascinates like nobody else of her time--SUNDAY HERALD
A quite astonishing tale--LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS
Once you have started reading Ophelia Field's splendid book, it is hard to put it down--THE LADY
Scholarly but never less than fascinating, Field's debut truly brings to life the complex character of Sarah Churchill and the last of the Stuart courts--ABERDEEN EVENING EXPRESS
Field draws effectively on Sarah's letters and self-justifying memoirs to produce a remarkable portrait--SUNDAY TIMES
She is a marvellous subject for a biography and Ophelia Field's book, capacious and beautifully detailed, does her full justice. It is the first work by a writer who is a master of her craft--INDEPENDENT
Other historians have skirted around the true nature of Sarah and Anne's passionate friendship, with its lesbian overtones, but Ophelia Field tackles the subject courageously ... During her long life Sarah managed to quarrel with almost everyone and took great care in editing her papers to ensure that posterity would know her side of the story, which is covered exhaustively by Field in this impressive debut--THE TIMES
Scholarly, highly articulate, and above all never dull--SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
Field has created an unforgettable picture of a remarkable figure ... Instead of fictionalizing her, Field shows how Sarah became a kind of fictional and artistic icon, a symbol of certain kinds of power that remained free of the checks and balances that the new settlement and constitution was bent on establishing. Even after 250 years, she fascinates like nobody else of her time--SUNDAY HERALD
A quite astonishing tale--LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS
Once you have started reading Ophelia Field's splendid book, it is hard to put it down--THE LADY
Scholarly but never less than fascinating, Field's debut truly brings to life the complex character of Sarah Churchill and the last of the Stuart courts--ABERDEEN EVENING EXPRESS
Field draws effectively on Sarah's letters and self-justifying memoirs to produce a remarkable portrait--SUNDAY TIMES
