Books: ‘The Duchess’
The Duchess: beauty, fashion icon, political force, and unlucky in love - 4 stars ****
By Gabrielle Pantera
‘The Duchess’: There's more in the book
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 9/25/08 - “If I were to write this book today, I wouldn’t shy away from the level of guilt she would carry the rest of her life,” says ‘Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire’ author Amanda Foreman. “While gone for two years, her son was crippled by an ear infection. He was deaf in one ear and partial in the other.”
The movie ‘The Duchess’ in theaters now and starring Keira Knightley, is based on Foreman’s book. “The movie ends at the crisis of Georgiana’s life…but the book goes on,” says Foreman. “She lost her sight in one eye and was quite scarred by doctors. ‘I’m no longer a beauty,’ she said. ‘I’m a mother.’ She started to write plays and became a politician.”
Georgiana Spencer married William Cavendish, the fifth duke of Devonshire, in 1774. He was one of England’s richest and most influential aristocrats. Georgiana was very fashionable and was looked to for new fashion ideas. In private, Georgiana’s marriage was not what she’d hoped it’d be. Georgiana was the great-great-great-great-aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales. In reading the book, you’ll notice parallels in their lives.
Foreman visited the great estate of Chatsworth and discovered Georgiana’s letters there while researching another project. “It was different then,” says Foreman. “They just gave you the keys and said to lock up the cupboards when you’re done.” Foreman says that, unfortunately, the crisps and sweets she brought with her to snack there attracted mice.
“The way Georgiana wrote was unmeditated,” says Foreman. “She wrote as she spoke. It was like she was speaking in your ear. I knew in that moment she deserved a book. It was like finding a lucky penny.”
“She had two loves in her life: Charles Grey and Lady Elizabeth Foster,” says Foreman. “She’s this great heroine who could finally have it all. Georgiana died six weeks after the Whig Party came to power.” Charles Grey, the 2nd Earl Grey, became British Prime Minister. He’s the namesake of the popular Earl Grey tea, that legend says he received as a gift.
“I do like the movie,” says Foreman, whose book was an immediate bestseller and quickly optioned by a producer friend. The original title was ‘Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire’. The book has been renamed ‘The Duchess’ to match the title of the movie.
“The film is an emotionally authentic work of art. It’s not the book, but they took a part of it. In the movie they cut out Georgiana’s gambling and drug addiction. The director said every problem is another fifteen minutes, and we’re already at 110 pages.”
“Why should we care about Georgiana?” asks Forman. “For women, Georgiana represents the conundrum that you can’t have it all. We learn from her mistakes. We take hope from her courage. She was a genuine expert in backroom politics, which is of interest to men and women.”
To utilize her fame, Georgiana started the first political salons, where political leaders gathered in the home of a female aristocrat to discuss politics. Georgiana helped the Whig Party, transforming British politics into a modern two-party system (with the Tories).
“It’s my only full-length book,” says Foreman. “My father [Carl Foreman] was writer, a screenwriter. He made some very famous films: ‘High Noon’, ‘Guns of Navarone’, ‘Bridge over the River Kwai’…which put me off. You don’t want to be the acorn growing in the shade. I began this book at age 25. It took me five years. I finished it when I was 30, ten years ago.”
It’s taken fifteen years for ‘The Duchess’ to go from pen to page to bestseller to film. Foreman’s only complete book, she also created a documentary on Wellington and the women in his life.
“The book is the view of someone in her 20s, who hadn’t had children yet, who hasn’t looked into abyss,” says Foreman. “My own son was born with hearing difficulties. I was very ill last year and spent the best part of a year in a wheelchair. I was also pregnant with twins at the time. And there were complications. You can be both. You can be a success and have the miserable years with the consequences and obligations.”
Amanda Foreman reveals a woman who was very intelligent, a prolific letter-writer and yet had flaws in her personality that she struggled with continually. Georgiana had a weakness for addictive behavior. Anything that she could become addicted to she did. Readers of the book get hooked, too.
‘The Duchess’
Trade Paperback
512 pages
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Reprint edition August 19, 2008
ISBN: 978-0812979695