an easy to read biography, . . hard to follow and no source documentation, The niece of Pitt the Younger, Lady Hester Stanhope left England at the age of, never to return.
Instead, she headed for the Middle East, crossing the dangerous terrain on her way to the foothills of Mount Lebanon.
This is her amazing life story, I've been dragging through this dreary biography for what feels like
an eternity rather than quitting for a few reasonsI engaged to read this with several friends here on LT but bought the wrong biographyLady Hester Stanhope was a truly fascinating woman of the Regency era, Pitt's niece, andI'm a completist, darn it all.
In brief LHS left England after Pitt died, She had served as his hostess when he was PM and had adored him, She ended up in the Middle East, partly by design, partly by happenstance like a shipwreck and never left.
There she indulged her eccentricities, as Haslip puts it, and over time besides becoming utterly indigent by generous overspending became more and more isolated in her mountaintop home, Djoun.
I researched a little and the consensus is the Haslip, while dated and while not providing notes or a bibliography, does state the facts and details accurately.
However, her theories, judgements and conclusions about the whys and wherefors of LHS's behaviours and choices are hopelessly dated and are also totally inconsistent.
Was LHS mad or was she not Was she a kind and thoughtful person or wickedly cruel Haslip doesn't have, for example, the psychological tools to examine LHS's behaviour from a more compassionate stance other than that she was an undisciplined and arrogant aristocrat who operated on whims and impulse, uneducated and brilliant.
All true, but there is no depth in that evaluation, And her sex life! Who knows Haslip is fabulously unclear, The original was written inand, for reasons I cannot fathom, republished in, Anyway, my advice is, if you are interested in LHS and you should be! don't read this bio, find a better one! Joan Haslip was an author of historical books, often focusing on European royalty.
She was born in London and educated in London, Paris and Florence, Her first book, Out of Focus, appeared inamong her other notable publications are Lady Hester Stanhopeand Parnell.
She also wrote for the London Mercury, the Daily Mail and Evening News, and the Illustrated London News.
She also worked for the Italian section of the BBC fromto, Her books were generally regarded as accurate and fairly complete although at times falling prey to outdated interpretations.
Joan Haslip was an author of historical books, often focusing on European royalty, She was born in London and educated in London, Paris and Florence, Her first book, Out of Focus, appeared inamong her other notable publications are Lady Hester Stanhopeand Parnell.
She also wrote for the London Mercury, the Daily Mail and Evening News, and the Illustrated London News.
She also worked for the Italian section of the BBC fromto, Her books were generally regarded as accurate and fairly complete although at times falling prey to "outdated interpretations".
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