Download or read book Queen and the Courtesan written by Freda Lightfoot and published by Severn House Publishers Ltd. This book was released on 2012-05-01 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A brand-new historical novel from a well-loved storyteller - Henriette d'Entragues isn't satisfied with simply being the mistress of Henry IV of France; she wants a crown too. Despite his promises to marry her, the King is obliged by political necessity to ally himself with a rich Italian princess. But Henriette isn't one for giving up easily. All she has to do to achieve her ambition is to give Henry a son, and then do whatever it takes to set him on the throne . . .

Download or read book The Queen and the Courtesan written by Freda Lightfoot and published by Story Sound. This book was released on 2016-02-01 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Henriette d'Entragues isn't satisfied with simply being mistress of Henry IV of France, she wants a crown too. Despite his promises to marry her, the King is obliged by political necessity to ally himself with Marie de Medici, an Italian princess who will bring riches to the treasury. But Henriette isn't one for giving up easily. She has a written promise of marriage which she intends to use to declare the royal marriage illegal. All she has to do to achieve her ambition is to give Henry a son, and then whatever it takes through intrigue and conspiracy to set him on the throne...

Download or read book Queen of the Courtesans written by Barbara White and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2014-06-02 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fanny Murray was an incomparable Georgian beauty and the most desired courtesan of the 1750s. The daughter of an impoverished musician from Bath, she took London society by storm, not only as the most prized 'purchaseable beauty' of her day, but also as a fashion icon and muse to poets, writers and artists. She counted princes, aristocrats and politicians among her friends and lovers, but relished the company of rogues, fraudsters and ne'er-do-wells. Barbara White presents evidence to suggest that Fanny Murray participated spiritedly in the sexual antics of the notorious 'Monks of Medmenham', the most infamous of the Hell-fire Clubs. After she retired from prostitution, Fanny Murray reinvented herself, entering a pragmatic marriage with the Scottish actor David Ross. Surprisingly, her virtues as a devoted and faithful wife became almost proverbial. Even so, Murray could not escape her disreputable past. In 1763, a scurrilous poem dedicated to her caused a national scandal that ended in the infamous trial of the radical politician John Wilkes for obscene libel. Barbara White's portrait of Fanny Murray takes readers from the brothels of Covent Garden to sex romps at Medmenham Abbey, from refined drawing rooms in London to marital respectability in Edinburgh. This is an illuminating contribution to the scholarly understanding and popular appreciation of a complex and intriguing period of British history. Fanny Murray's triumph – against almost insuperable odds – is a remarkable story, as rich in the telling as it is enthralling.

Download or read book The Courtesan written by Susan Carroll and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2005-07-26 with total page 562 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Skilled in passion, artful in deception, and driven by betrayal, she is the glittering center of the royal court–but the most desired woman of Renaissance France will draw the wrath of a dangerous adversary. Paris, 1575. The consort of some of Europe’s most influential men, Gabrielle Cheney is determined to secure her future by winning the heart of Henry, the Huguenot king of Navarre. As his mistress, Gabrielle hopes she might one day become the power behind the French throne. But her plans are jeopardized by Captain Nicolas Rémy, a devoted warrior whose love Gabrielle desires–and fears–above all. She will also incur the malevolence of the Dark Queen, Catherine de’ Medici, whose spies and witch-hunters are legion, and who will summon the black arts to maintain her authority. With the lives of those she loves in peril, Gabrielle must rebel against her queen to fulfill a glorious destiny she has sacrificed everything to gain. Alive with vivid period detail and characters as vibrant as they are memorable, The Courtesan is a sweeping historical tale of dangerous intrigues, deep treachery, and one woman’s unshakable resolve to honor her heart.

Download or read book Queen of the Courtesans written by Barbara White and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2014-06-02 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fanny Murray (1729-1778) was a famous Georgian beauty and courtesan, desired throughout England and often to be found pressed to a gentleman’s heart in the form of a printed disc secretly tucked into their pocket-watch. She rose from life in the ‘London stews’ to fame and fortune, through her career as a high-class courtesan. She was seduced and then abandoned, aged just 12, by Jack Spencer, grandson of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough (and related to the Althorp-based Spencers). Her luck turned when she caught the eye of the infamous Beau Nash, ‘King of Bath’. But it was her time in London that promoted her to national fame and notoriety. After ten years at the top, she was heavily in debt, but managed to secure an arranged marriage to a respectable man. The scandals of her past caught up with her as she was named in the national scandal surrounding Wilke’s pornography case at the High Court.

Download or read book The Courtesan Queen written by Anna Triss and published by Warm Publishing. This book was released on 2023-02-15 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After centuries of peace, the four Elemental Clans of Symbiosis are at war with each other. Sylvan, the young Fuegis King, a cruel and ruthless warrior with the ability to control Fire magic, is enslaving the other three kingdoms of Symbiosis, spreading death and terror in his path. I am Queen Alena of the Glace Clan, which is affiliated with Water magic. I was captured by my worst enemy during the siege of my city. I already know the fate that awaits me tonight. Like the princesses of the other two Elemental Clans that preceded me, I am destined to become the new wife of the tyrant Sylvan. And tomorrow at dawn… I will be executed. But queen or slave, I am first and foremost a Glace. I will honor our ancestral philosophy. “Facing his enemy, a Glace sheds no tears, and never gives up wielding his weapons.”

Download or read book The Shogun s Queen written by Lesley Downer and published by Corgi. This book was released on 2017-07-27 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Japan, and the year is 1853. Growing up among the samurai of the Satsuma Clan, in Japan's deep south, the fiery, beautiful and headstrong Okatsu has like all the clan's women been encouraged to be bold, taught to wield the halberd, and to ride a horse. But when she is just seventeen, four black ships appear. Bristling with cannon and manned by strangers who to the Japanese eyes are barbarians, their appearance threatens Japan's very existence. And turns Okatsu's world upside down. Chosen by her feudal lord, she has been given a very special role to play. Given a new name Princess Atsu and a new destiny, she is the only one who can save the realm. Her journey takes her to Edo Castle, a place so secret that it cannot be marked on any map. There, sequestered in the Women's Palace home to three thousand women, and where only one man may enter: the shogun she seems doomed to live out her days.

Download or read book The Book of the Courtesans written by Susan Griffin and published by Crown. This book was released on 2002-02-06 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Pulitzer-Prize-nominated author Susan Griffin comes an unprecedented, provocative look at the dazzling world of the West’s first independent women, whose lively liaisons brought them unspoken influence, wealth, and freedom. While they charmed some of Europe’s most illustrious men honing their social skills as well as their sexual ones, the great courtesans gained riches, power, education, and sexual freedom in a time when other women were denied all of these. From Imperia of sixteenth-century Rome, who personified the Renaissance ideal of beauty; Mme. de Pompadour, the arbiter of all things fashionable in eighteenth-century Paris and Versailles; Liane de Pougy, known in France during the Belle Epoque as “Our National Courtesan”; to Sarah Bernhardt, who, following in her mother’s footsteps, supported herself in her early career with a second profession, The Book of the Courtesans tells the life stories and intricacies of the lavish lifestyles of these women. Unlike their geisha counterparts, courtesans neither lived in brothels nor bent their wills to suit their suitors. They were strong- willed, autonomous, and plucky. An open secret, their presence can be felt throughout our culture. The muses who enflamed the hearts and imaginations of our most celebrated artists, they were also artists in their own right. They wrote poetry and novels, invented the cancan at the Moulin Rouge, and presented celebrated acts at the Folies Bergères. They helped to influence and shape the sensibility of modern literature, painting, and fashion. When Greek sculptor Praxiteles wanted to depict Venus he used a famous courtesan as a model, as in later centuries Titian, Veronese, Raphael, Giorgione, and Boucher did when they painted goddesses. When Marcel Proust was a young man it was the courtesan Laure Hayman who took him under her wing, introducing him to the right people, and providing inspiration for one of literature’s greatest masterpieces. And they often had considerable political influence too. When King Louis XV needed advice on foreign affairs or appointments of state he turned to Jeanne du Barry as well as Pompadour. In her witty and insightful prose, as Griffin celebrates these alluring and fascinating women, she restores a lost legacy of women’s history. She gives us the stories of these amazing women who, starting from impoverished or unimpressive beginnings, garnered chateaux, fine coaches, fabulous collections of jewelry, and even aristocratic titles along the way. And through a brilliant exploration of their extraordinary abilities, skills, and talents which Griffin playfully categorizes as their virtues "Timing, Beauty, Cheek, Brilliance, Gaiety, Grace, and Charm" her book explains how, while helping themselves, through their often outrageous, always entertaining examples, the great courtesans not only enriched our cultural heritage but helped to liberate women from the social, sexual, and economic strictures that confined them. Intensively researched and beautifully crafted, The Book of the Courtesans delves into scintillating but often hidden worlds, telling stories gleaned from many sources, including courtesans’ memoirs, presented along with stunning rare photographs to create memorable portraits of some of the most pivotal figures in women’s history.

Download or read book The Queen Of The Night written by Alexander Chee and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2016-02-02 with total page 573 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER, New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, and a Best Book of the Year from NPR, Boston Globe, BuzzFeed, and others. The mesmerizing story of one woman's rise from circus rider to courtesan to world-renowned diva—"a brilliant performance" (Washington Post). The Queen of the Night tells the captivating story of Lilliet Berne, an orphan who left the American frontier for Europe and was swept into the glamour and terror of Second Empire France. She became a sensation of the Paris Opera, with every accolade but an original role—her chance at immortality. When one is offered to her, she finds the libretto is based on her deepest secret, something only four people have ever known. But who betrayed her? With epic sweep, gorgeous language, and haunting details, Alexander Chee shares Lilliet’s cunning transformation from circus rider to courtesan to legendary soprano, retracing the path that led to the role that could secure her reputation—or destroy her with the secrets it reveals. “It just sounds terrific. It sounds like opera.”—The New Yorker “Sprawling, soaring, bawdy, and plotted like a fine embroidery.”—NPR

Download or read book Memoirs of a Courtesan in Nineteenth century Paris written by comtesse Cäleste Vänard de Chabrillan and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2001-01-01 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Cäleste Mogador's memoirs were first published in 1854 and again in 1858, they were immediately seized and condemned as immoral and unsuitable for public consumption. For a reader in our more forgiving times, this extraordinary document offers not only a portrait of the early life of an intelligent, courageous, and infinitely intriguing Frenchwoman but also an exceedingly rare inside look at the world of the courtesans and prostitutes of nineteenth-century France. ø Writing to conciliate judges and creditors, Mogador (born Cäleste Venard in 1824) explains how with tenacity, wit, and audacity, she managed to escape a difficult childhood and subsequent life of prostitution to become, successively, a darling of the dance halls, a circus rider, and an actress, all the while attracting wealthy young men who vied for her favor. Although her account gives readers a peek into the rakish demimonde made famous by Verdi's opera La Traviata, its greatest value lies in its candid picture of a spunky, self-educated woman who doggedly transformed herself into an esteemed and prolific novelist and playwright, who fell in love with a count and married him, and who made her name synonymous with the bohemian life of the 1840s and 1850s in Paris.

Download or read book The Courtesan s Secret written by Claudia Dain and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2008 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To win the love of the rakish Marquis of Dutton, as well as to retrieve the family pearls that are in his possession, Lady Louisa Kirkland enlists the seductive assistance of former courtesan Lady Sophia, in a sexy Regency-era novel by the author of The Courtesan's Daughter. Original.

Download or read book Courtesan written by Diane Haeger and published by Crown. This book was released on 2006-07-25 with total page 578 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Amid the disapproving gossip of the Court, a royal romance defies all obstacles. The Court of François I is full of lust, intrigue, and bawdy bon temps—a different world from the quiet country life Diane de Poitiers led with her elderly husband. Now a widow, the elegant Diane is called back to Court, where the King’s obvious interest marks her as an enemy to the King’s favourite, Anne d’Heilly. The Court is soon electrified by rumors of their confrontations. As Anne calls on her most venomous tricks to drive Diane away, Diane finds an ally in the one member of Court with no allegiance to the King’s mistress: his teenage second son, Henri. Neglected by his father and disliked by his brothers, Prince Henri expects little from his life. But as his friendship with Diane deepens into infatuation and then a romance that scandalizes the Court, the Prince begins to discover hope for a future with Diane. But fate and his father have other plans for Henri—including a political marriage with Catherine de Medici. Despite daunting obstacles, Henri’s devotion to Diane never wanes; their passion becomes one of the most legendary romances in the history of France. Also available as an eBook

Download or read book Queens Courtesans written by J Lynn Baker and published by Twilight's Verge Publishing. This book was released on 2016-09-24 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Women have long wielded power in various ways. This collection explores two prominent archetypes, the Queen and the Courtesan, in memorable stories that cross speculative genres. Whether finding love or finding themselves, coming into their magic or other strengths, these complex women rise above the roles that confine them to ask: who will you be?

Download or read book The Mistress of Paris written by Catherine Hewitt and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2017-01-24 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "First published in the United Kingdom by Icon Books Ltd"--Title page verso.

Download or read book The Woman Before Wallis written by Andrew Rose and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2013-05-07 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Originally published in Great Britain by Coronet, an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton, a division of Hachette UK, under the title The Prince, the Princess and the Perfect Murder"--T.p. verso.

Download or read book The Courtesan and the Samurai written by Lesley Downer and published by Random House. This book was released on 2010 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Japan, 1868: the last shogun has been defeated, the age of the emperors is about to begin and in Japan's frozen north a diehard band of loyalists plans a desperate last stand.

Download or read book The Hundredth Queen written by Emily R. King and published by . This book was released on 2017-06 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Emily R. King's thrilling fantasy debut, an orphan girl blossoms into a warrior, summoning courage and confidence in her fearless quest to upend tradition, overthrow an empire, and reclaim her life as her own.As an orphan ward of the Sisterhood in the ancient Tarachand Empire, eighteen-year-old Kalinda is destined for nothing more than a life of seclusion and prayer. Plagued by fevers, she's an unlikely candidate for even a servant's position, let alone a courtesan or wife. Her sole dream is to continue living in peace in the Sisterhood's mountain temple.But a visit from the tyrant Rajah Tarek disrupts Kalinda's life. Within hours, she is ripped from the comfort of her home, set on a desert trek, and ordered to fight for her place among the rajah's ninety-nine wives and numerous courtesans. Her only solace comes in the company of her guard, the stoic but kind Captain Deven Naik.Faced with the danger of a tournament to the death--and her growing affection for Deven--Kalinda has only one hope for escape, and it lies in an arcane, forbidden power buried within her.