The Mistresses of Cliveden: Three Centuries of Scandal, Power and Intrigue in an English Stately Home - Tapa dura

"Narratively enthralling ... chronicled with scholarship, readability, wit and a fine eye for telling detail." (Andrew Roberts Evening Standard)

"Her scholarship is considerable and yet she wears it lightly, producing a book which is always lively, entertaining and immensely readable." (Daily Express)

"Natalie Livingstone has written an utterly fascinating and completely beguiling account of three centuries of high living, high politics, and high drama at one of Britain's most famous stately homes. A page turner from start to finish, The Mistresses of Cliveden perfectly illustrates why social history rules the shelves; it's history with all the good stuff left in." (Amanda Foreman, author of GEORGIANA, DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE)

"A wonderful voyage through the fascinating history of Cliveden - this is a brilliant book full of gripping personalities and beautiful detail." (Kate Williams, author of BECOMING QUEEN and JOSEPHINE)

"Wide-ranging and deliciously enjoyable..." (Juliet Nicholson The Telegraph)

"Meticulously researched." (Mail on Sunday)

"A fascinating journey through English social history, with Cliveden at its heart." (Country Life)

"Fluently written, the book interweaves [these] personal stories with historical snippets illuminating each era and glimpses of life at the pinnacle of society... The broad sweep through 300 years of social change is packed with plenty of colourful details that capture the heady essence of Cliveden and the bold, spirited women who shared its history" (History Today)

A Sunday Times bestseller, The Mistresses of Cliveden is the extraordinary story of how five women used their home to influence British society.

From its dawn in the 1660s to its twilight in the 1960s, Cliveden was an emblem of elite misbehaviour and intrigue. Conceived by the Duke of Buckingham as a retreat for his scandalous affair with Anna-Maria, Countess of Shrewsbury, the house later served as the backdrop for the Profumo Affair, which would bring down a government and change the course of British history.

In the three hundred years between the Countess and Christine Keeler, the house was occupied by a dynasty of remarkable women: Elizabeth Villiers, an intellectual who brokered the rise and fall of governments; Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, a minor German royal who almost became queen of England; Harriet Duchess of Sutherland, the glittering society hostess turned political campaigner; and Nancy Astor, the consummate controversialist who became the first woman to take a seat in parliament. Under the direction of these women, Cliveden provided a stage for political plots and artistic premieres, hosted grieving monarchs and republican radicals, was idealised as a family home, and maligned as a threat to national security.

The Mistresses of Cliveden is by turns a historical epic, a political thriller, a family drama, and an intimate history of the relationships between people and place. Above all, it is a story about sex and power, and the ways in which exceptional women have evaded, exploited, and confronted the expectations of their times.