Автор: Katie Hickman

This edition does not include illustrations.‘Irresistible…history at its most human. Elegant and addictively readable.’ William DalrympleDuring the course of the 18th- and 19th-century a small group of women rose from impoverished obscurity to positions of great power, independence and wealth. In doing so they took control of their lives – and those of other people – and made the world do their will.Men ruined themselves in desperate attempts to gain and retain a courtesan’s favours, but she was always courted for far more than sex. In an age in which women were generally not…

This edition does not include illustrations.An authoritative and entertaining account by one of our most talented writers of the courageous and unusual women who have been the backbone of the British Empire and foreign service.‘English ambassadresses are usually on the dotty side and leaving their embassies drives them completely off their rockers’ – Nancy MitfordFrom the first exploratory expeditions into foreign lands, through the heyday of the British Empire and still today, the foreign service has been shaped and run behind the scenes by the wives of ambassadors and minor civil…