whatsapp logo
Image of The Fall of the House of Byron

The Fall of the House of Byron

Emily Brand

From Shelf: My Kindle TBR

A thrilling family story of aristocratic decadence and decline at the heart of 18th century British empire.

THE RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEKBBC HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEARSUNDAY TIMES BOOKS OF THE YEAR'Delectable ... a ravishing family saga' Sunday Times'Brings to life the colourful characters of the Georgian era's most notorious families with all the verve and skill of the era's finest novelists ... A powdered and pomaded, sordid and silk-swathed adventure' Hallie Rubenhold'A chocolate box full of delicious gothic delights - jump in' Lucy Worsley'Brand is a great historian, equal to the huge challenge of telling the story of history's most turbulent and colourful lives' Dan Snow'A hauntingly beautiful portrait of the Byron dynasty' Rebecca RidealIn the early eighteenth century, Newstead Abbey was among the most admired aristocratic homes in England. It was the abode of William, 4th Baron Byron - a popular amateur composer and artist - and his teenage wife Frances. But by the end of the century, the building had become a crumbling and ill-cared-for ruin. Surrounded by wreckage of his inheritance, the 4th Baron's dissipated son and heir William, 5th Baron Byron - known to history as the 'Wicked Lord' - lay on his deathbed alongside a handful of remaining servants and amidst a thriving population of crickets.This was the home that a small, pudgy boy of ten from Aberdeen - who the world would later come to know as Lord Byron, the Romantic poet, soldier, and adventurer - would inherit in 1798. His family, he would come to learn, had in recent decades become known for almost unfathomable levels of scandal and impropriety, from elopement, murder, and kidnapping to adultery, coercion, and thrilling near-death experiences at sea. Just as it had shocked the society of Georgian London, the outlandish and scandalous story of the Byrons - and the myths that began to rise around it - would his influence his life and poetry for posterity.The Fall of the House of Byron follows the fates of Lord Byron's ancestors over three generations in a drama that begins in rural Nottinghamshire and plays out in the gentlemen's clubs of Georgian London, amid tempests on far-flung seas, and in the glamour of pre-revolutionary France. A compelling story of a prominent and controversial characters, it is a sumptuous family portrait and an electrifying work of social history.

Format:
Hardback
Pages:
368
Publisher:
John Murray Press
ISBN:
9781473664302
Published Date:
16/4/2020
Dimensions:
236mm x 164mm x 36mm
Weight:
600g
Category:
Biography: literary

Currently unavailable to Buy Local

RRP: £25

Format: Hardback

ISBN: 9781473664302

No Stock


Shelves containing this book