The Duchess

This is the book that the Keira Knightly movie is based on, and I picked it up expecting it to be a dishy historical novel. Instead, it's a serious biography about Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. The Duchess, as it turns out, was far more than the tabloid scandal parts of her life - the gambling debts, the affairs, the illegitimate child, the best friend who was also her husband's mistress.

She was the leader of both the fashionable and political world in London for decades. She was involved in politics at a time when women weren't supposed to be involved in such things, and she drew lots of scorn and derision for her campaigning on behalf of candidates for Parliament.

I was surprised by both the book and the woman.