The Grit in the Pearl

The Scandalous Life of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll

Lyndsy Spence

$49.99

Hardback

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English

HISTORY PRESS
01 May 2019

Biography; Biography: historical, political & military; British & Irish history; Gender studies: women

Margaret, Duchess of Argyll (1912-1993) was an international celebrity in her youth, adored and observed by millions. But in 1963, the year of the Profumo Affair, the 11th Duke of Argyll shocked the country when he alleged that his adulterous wife had slept with over eighty men behind his back. He produced, as his evidence, a set of sexually explicit Polaroid photographs and explosive love letters. The duke won a divorce, but this had a dramatic effect on Margaret's life. On the verge of financial destitution, she fell from grace and was abandoned by most of her friends prior to her death in a nursing home in Pimlico in 1993. Lyndsy Spence tells a tragic story of the life and downfall of this fascinatingly complex woman, and shows how she fell victim to a cruel husband, harsh social mores and an unforgiving class. It uses hitherto unpublished sources, including taped conversations, an unexpurgated transcript of her divorce trial, interviews and letters. The Grit in the Pearl is a meticulously researched and powerful biography, which acts as a potent lens on various themes in the last century: fame, privacy, the media, sex, power, and relationships between classes.

AUTHOR: Lyndsy Spence is the author of The Mitford Girls' Guide to Life (THP, 2013), Mrs Guinness: The Rise & Fall of a Thirties Socialite (THP, 2015) and The Mistress of Mayfair (THP, 2016). She is the founder of The Mitford Society, a popular online community dedicated to the Mitford sisters.

20 b/w images

By: Lyndsy Spence
Imprint: HISTORY PRESS
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9780750986991
ISBN 10: 0750986999
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 01 May 2019
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Unspecified

Lyndsy Spence is a celebrated historian who specialises in daring aristocratic women. She is a book reviewer for The Lady and the founder of The Mitford Society, an online community dedicated to researching the Mitford sisters. Her previous books for The History Press include The Mistress of Mayfair: Men, Money and the Marriage of Doris Delevingne (2018) and Mrs Guinness: The Rise and Fall of Diana Mitford, the Thirties Socialite (2017).