Mrs. Piozzi's Thraliana

The private journals of Hester Thrale Piozzi, one of the most brilliant women of the Georgian era, preserved here in delicious fragments. For over three decades, this extraordinary journal-keeper recorded everything that struck her: overheard conversations, sharp observations on society, verses she composed or collected, and the daily texture of life among England's literary elite. As Johnson's beloved friend and the celebrated hostess of Streatham, Thrale moved through a world of wit, illness, loss, and transformation. These selected entries capture her distinctive voice: urgent, funny, sometimes vain, always vivid. We witness the death of her husband Mr. Thrale, her controversial second marriage to the Italian musician Piozzi (scandalizing all London), and her later years as a writer in her own right. This is history from inside the room, filtered through a woman who refused to let a single interesting moment escape her pen. For anyone who has ever kept a diary and wondered if anyone would care: here is proof that a sharp eye and an honest one endure.