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The Verneys: Love, War and Madness in Seventeenth-century England by: Adrian Tinniswood List Price: £9.99 City Travel Guides Price: £6.49 You Save: £3.50 (35%)Prices subject to change. |
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Binding: Paperback EAN: 9781844134144 ISBN: 1844134148 Label: Vintage Manufacturer: Vintage Number Of Pages: 400 Publication Date: April 03, 2008 Publisher: Vintage Studio: Vintage Sales Rank: 65045 Related Items:
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 Rating: - Compelling history!This is history at its best - it's readable, compelling and thoroughly enjoyable. Tinniswood's book achieves many goals in one - a fascinating social history, meticulous biography, powerful family saga, and not least it is a really good and engaging read. The tale begins with Sir Francis Verney who ran away from his teenage wife in 1608, sold off much of the Verney property, converted to Islam and became one of the most feared pirates on the Barbary Coast. Carry on to read about Bess, who ran off with a clergyman; Cary, a heavy gambler, and Henry who was obsessed with horse racing; not to mention those involved in the English Civil War; Mall, who became pregnant out of marriage, or one of the later relatives who was hanged at Tyburn. ... Read More: Rating: - Stuart era soap operaAdrian has taken the collected letters of the Verneys and turned them into a fascinating story of life in the Civil War and Restoration. The Verney family characters are all uniquely human with frailties and aspirations that are recognisable today, especially in how Sir Ralph Verney tries to maintain the family fortunes, have his sons shoulder responsibilities and marry well with large dowries. The women are not in the background and show how they rebel to the strictures placed on them by society. Adrian's own views stay in the background except for some, for him, shocking revelations as to personal conduct. Its a surprisingly readable page turning insight into how an aristocratic family copes with being torn apart by the Civil War, ... Read More: |
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