Product Description

London: 1673. With her family ruined by war, penniless thirteen-year-old Sarah Jennings is overjoyed to be chosen as a maid of honor at the bawdy Restoration court of Charles II. Her beauty stirs the desires of the jaded aristocrats, but Sarah wants a grander future for herself than that of a pampered mistress. As allies, she chooses John Churchill, a military hero whose ambition and passions match her own, and befriends the Lady Anne of York, a lonely royal princess who comes to trust Sarah over all others.

But Whitehall Palace is ripe with ever-shifting alliances and sexual scandal, and Sarah will need all her cleverness to succeed. Titles, power, and wealth are the prizes, while an idle whisper in the wrong ear can bring a cry of treason, and the executioner's axe. Will Sarah's loyalties -- and her dreams -- falter when a king is toppled from his throne, and a new queen crowned? And will she dare risk everything when her one true love is tested by a passionate, dangerous obsession?

Brimming with the intrigue and sensuality of one of history's most decadent courts, DUCHESS brings to vivid life the story of an unforgettable woman who determines her own destiny -- outspoken, outrageous, but most of all true to herself and her heart.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #553405 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-01
• Format: Bargain Price
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Sarah Jennings's ascent from poverty as a 13-year-old to the highest echelons of late 17th- and early 18th-century English society has all the trappings of supermarket tabloids: intrigue, treachery, deceit and sexual scandals. In this first-person telling, Scott takes a near-scholarly approach but maintains the thrills as Sarah and her equally ambitious husband, John Churchill, risk charges of treason (and thus, their necks) to ensure the crown for Anne Stuart. Sarah and John become the ultimate power couple: she gets her way, her riches and her title nearly without sacrificing her own principles, while John, despite his personal ambition, seeks the best for his family and country, becoming England's greatest military hero. If each is a bit too good to be true, that is a hazard of the first person and is easy to overlook with two such interesting and able characters. That Sarah is an ancestor of both Winston Churchill and Lady Diana Spencer gives this novel appeal to several generations of historical fiction readers. (Aug.)
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About the Author
Susan Holloway Scott is the author of more than thirty historical novels and a graduate of Brown University.

Customer Reviews

Politics and true love abound in Duchess: A novel of Sarah Churchill
It's always good to see a period of history that tends to get skipped over -- in this case, the period of Restoration England and the last of the Stuart kings and queens -- get a good treatment. Susan Holloway Scott's Duchess: A Novel of Sarah Churchill takes an intimate, and at times, shocking look at how a nation managed to firmly shut the door on the idea of an absolute monarch, and so, created a stable and prosperous realm.

Told through the eyes of Sarah Jennings, a young rather impoverished child of twelve, we see the rather tangled relationships between the Stuarts. Arriving to the Royal Court as a maid of honour to the Duchess of York, Sarah finds it to be a blessed relief from her shrewish, hateful mother, and a way to climb the social ladder. That goal becomes much easier when she meets the duke's younger daughter, Princess Anne, who will become Sarah's closest friend.

Anne isn't what one would think of as a traditional princess. She's rather plain and round, with squinting, watering eyes, and morbidly shy when we first see her. And with a family that either despises her, or ignores her, Anne clings to Sarah; at first this is just two lonely children finding a common friendship, but soon, Sarah discovers that Anne can be manipulated, and her intense need for love and acceptance used. While Anne eventually finds herself married to a Danish prince of incredible vapidity, Sarah finds herself in an ambitious match with an officer, John Churchill, a man who is both politically and militarily wise.

While Sarah is able to find love with both Anne and John, she also finds herself immersed in court politics, especially when King Charles dies without a legitimate heir, and his brother, James, the Duke of York, becomes King James II. Unfortunately for most of England, he's a proud, vengeful man, who is determined to bring England back to Catholicism, and doesn't mind burning, hanging and torturing his subjects to see that they do so. Eventually, Sarah and John must decide between sworn loyalty to the king, or to keep England free of Catholicism.

It's an intriguing blend of history, women's roles, personal life and a grand love affair between Sarah and John. Scott's research is firmly solid, and while some readers may find many of the incidents too fanciful, they really did happen. Anne and Sarah would write and term each other as 'Mrs. Morley' and 'Mrs. Freeman,' moving beyond the distance that royalty deemed was necessary, Sarah did spirit Anne away as the 'Glorious Revolution' started, and there were indeed rumors of a lesbian relationship between the two women.

Too, the author talks about the day to day living of aristocratic women. Besides providing social entertainment and style, there was the burden of bearing children; while birth control was nearly nonexistant, it was also quite likely that a mother and her child could die during the process, or a beloved infant die within days or months of birth. A sorrowful note is struck with both Anne and Sarah losing several children -- Anne would manage more than eighteen pregnancies, but only one son would survive infancy, and would die at the young age of eleven.

A great deal of the book is given up to the political dealings of the time, from the fall of James II, to his elder daughter Mary, and her husband, William of Orange, becoming monarchs of Great Britain, and Anne's eventual succession as Queen. Paralleling this is John and Sarah's marriage, children, and the War of the Spanish Sucession that would embroil them both in political mire, and banishment from the court.

But it is mostly Sarah's story, as a determined young woman who manages to make a very bold mark on history. She was the ancestress of the Dukes of Marlborough, and the builder of Blenheim Palace, a grand monstrosity of a house in England that is a showpiece of Baroque architecture and style. Blenheim is still occupied by the current Dukes and among her descendants can be counted a certain Lady Diana Spencer and Sir Winston Churchill.

The novel is good, told in a first person narrative style, and as a historical adventure, does very well. The story is kept moving at a good clip, and rarely stalls out over historical or personal details. It is also as much Anne's story as it is Sarah's, and both women are well thought out, with a depth given to their motivations and personalities.

If this novel catches your interest, other books about Queen Anne and the rather sticky situation of the Stuarts can be found in Maureen Waller's Ungrateful Daughters: The Stuart Princesses who Stole their Father's Crown and The Sickly Stuarts which tries to discover why the Stuart dynasty was unable to flourish and bring healthy occupants to the throne.

In the paperback edition of this book, there is an Epilogue by the author, a reader's guide and an excerpt from the author's next book, The Royal Harlot, about Barbara Villiers and Charles II, due out in 2007.

Recommended.

One amazing woman, one good book
"Duchess" is set in a point in history that I know really nothing about, but I've read a lot of historical fiction centered on the Jacobite revolution (specifically the "Outlander" series) and always wanted to know how it was the Stuarts were removed from the English throne. This book tells that story from the point of view of one who had much to do with it, which is amazing considering that the narrator is a woman in a time when all political power belonged to men. But then, Sara Churchill was never an ordinary woman of her time.

Sara Churchill is I think one of the most interesting historical figures I ever read about, barring Queen Elizabeth I of course of course, but on the same lines. Both were devoted to politics when women were not allowed to be involved in them. Sara grew up as poor gentry, and went to court as a maid of honor for the duchess of York, at 13 only to really become the friend of the duchess' step-daughter, Princess Anne. At this point Anne is described as somewhat as somewhat of an advanced child and she seemed rather smart to me, which contrasted heavily with future characterizations.

Anyway, Sara grows up at court, marries her love, John Churchill, who is brilliant though poor and eventually both attain their place in history not only as hopeless lovebirds but by questioning the place of an obviously catholic monarch (King James) in a protestant country. When that Monarch begins to take steps towards religious oppression they start their campaign-to take that monarch off the throne and replace him with his daughter, and in time, her sister, and in time, an unrelated protestant monarch. Now I know what happened to the Stuarts.

This is a very good book, though a bit dry at times with the endless intrigue and Anne's character was uneven. I do always like 3rd person over 1st, but here I think Sara's voice had to come out in 1st. I loved Sara and was amazed by her wit and brains, and the public actions she took to use them in a time when women were not encouraged to do so. I was appalled by Anne's treatment of her and John in later years, and felt there was no reason for it (but that's probably because I feel there is no holy and special respect and reverence accorded to a monarch) but spite and bitterness. She was just disgusting in her treatment of her best friend, all because she told her to be quite and was rude some times! That sounds like a normal friendship to me!I was also stunned by the number of unsuccessful pregnancies and dead children Anne had (totalling 16.)

Four stars.

intriguing biographical fiction
By 1673, Sarah Jennings has no prospects, no hopes and no future as the family of the thirteen year old has been left impoverished like many other commoners by the Civil War. However, an opportunity occurs when Sarah surprisingly is chosen to be a maid of honor at the court of Charles II. She leaps at the chance because she has an ambition to attain entry into the highest levels of Restoration society. She quickly becomes a favorite of the lonely Princess Anne with her honesty and ethics in a court filled with depravity amorality and hedonistic decadence. She soon meets her male equivalent John Churchill who matches her in ambition, ethics and chutzpah. They become an entry and quickly rise in power until they are titled the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough. However, climbing the ladder seems easier than maintaining their lofty status as jealousy and backstabbing are the norm. Finally when the Stuarts are dethroned in 1788, will they survive the bloodless Glorious Revolution?

This is an intriguing biographical fiction of ancestors of Winston Churchill though the emphasis is more on Sarah (duh - the title). Sarah is a fascinating protagonist as she swims in a sea of debauched sharks yet in spite of her aspiration manages to remain a principled honest person unafraid to speak the truth to anyone even the Royals. Her Duke is her male equivalent in candor and ambition as they make personal choices that provide for a terrific period piece that historical fiction readers will appreciate.

Harriet Klausner