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What would you like to read?Search books, authors, genres, shelves, users...
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1864
A historical novel written in the mid-19th century. It fictionalizes the confessions and rise-and-fall of Emma Lyon (Lady Hamilton), shifting from poverty and beauty to influence and remorse. Framed as a priest discovering her deathbed memoir, the story foregrounds Emma’s voice amid admirals, queens, and scandal. It will appeal to readers who enjoy intimate portraits of famous figures and the perilous currents of ambition. The opening of the narrative sets a wintry scene in northern France, where a priest is led to a seaside hut to console a dying Englishwoman attended by her daughter. Surrounded by the contrasting signs of luxury and want—including portraits of a decorated one-eyed naval hero and a radiant young woman—the invalid begs for divine mercy, reveals herself as Lady Hamilton, and gives the priest a key to her manuscript, “My Life.” He returns with the sacraments, baptizes her, and she dies peacefully; the text then shifts to her memoir. Emma recalls a childhood of hardship in Wales, tending sheep with her dog Black, a brief lift into a girls’ school through a patron’s gift, and the shame of being cast out when he dies. As a nursery governess in a rigid Puritan household, she discovers the sea and meets the painter Romney and the worldly Arabella, who both dangle London’s promise—money for posing and a companion’s post. Torn between warnings and desire, encouraged by her bold friend Amy and a lad named Dick, Emma resolves to flee: she writes farewell letters and, at midnight, slips toward the garden gate to begin her escape.
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