‘Thoroughly absorbing...heading beyond the immediate confines of its subject...the 3rd earl emerges...as a Georgian “character” to rank with Beau Brummell or Parson Woodforde’.
'A highly engaging book that should reach a wide public'.
Times Literary Supplement - Anne Crowther
‘Foyster documents a family scandal ripped directly from early nineteenth-century headlines...The standing-room-only proceedings are exhaustively detailed, but equally as compelling are the stories of Wallop’s family, friends, and servants, who contributed, one way or another, to his cover-up, his exposure, and his downfall.’
‘Ms. Foyster did a wonderful job taking all of the information from the case and putting it into chapter form to make it easier for the layperson to understand. She really makes you look at how those with mental disorders or disabilities were treated in Georgian England and makes you wonder if it is any different than today.’
San Francisco Book Review
‘Foyster has turned a great mound of papers lying neglected in the Lambeth Palace Library into a grippingly readable tale.’
London Review of Books Terry Eagleton
‘Highly readable and illuminates the world Portsmouth lived in. Cameos by the family of Jane Austen and Lord Byron are an added bonus.’
‘One of the early nineteenth century’s most notorious lunacy inquiries and a dynasty in turmoil...If this were a novel, no one would believe it.’
‘Extensively researched and gracefully written.’
New York Times Book Review
‘Fascinating’.
‘Foyster proves to be not only a scrupulous and thorough historian, but also a delightfully inquisitive one...compelling.’
Literary Review Miranda Seymour
‘Reveals an aristocratic household turned upside down by scandal and mental illness...Unputdownable.’
‘A well-informed, sympathetic portrayal of an extraordinary world.’
Best History Books of 2016 Guardian
‘Portsmouth’s story unfolds like a novel, filled with blackmail, abductions, adultery, secret marriages, disputed inheritances and family scandals. Readers will find the book difficult to put down. There’s also a Canadian postscript to the story: Portsmouth’s widow eventually immigrated to Canada and settled in Chatham-Kent where the story of “How the Countess of Portsmouth came to Chatham” remains a fixture of haunted walks in his Ontario town.’
royalhistorian.com - Dr Carolyn Harris
‘Extraordinary...A well researched and vividly readable account.’
‘Foyster documents a family scandal ripped directly from early nineteenth-century headlines...The standing-room-only proceedings are exhaustively detailed, but equally as compelling are the stories of Wallop’s family, friends, and servants, who contributed, one way or another, to his cover-up, his exposure, and his downfall.’
'A highly engaging book that should reach a wide public'.
Times Literary Supplement
‘Thoroughly absorbing…heading beyond the immediate confines of its subject…the 3rd earl emerges…as a Georgian “character” to rank with Beau Brummell or Parson Woodforde’.
‘Reveals an aristocratic household turned upside down by scandal and mental illness...Unputdownable.’
bestselling author of Elizabeth: The Forgotten John Guy
‘Extraordinary...A well researched and vividly readable account.’
author of Necropolis: London and Its Dead Catharine Arnold
"Extensively researched and gracefully written ... Compassion, of which he got precious little in his life, is exactly what Portsmouth receives from Foyster."—Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review —Carolyn Harris, The Royal Historian —Literary Review — Sarah Wise, author of Inconvenient People: Lunacy, Liberty and the Mad-Doctors in Victorian England —John Guy, bestelling author of Elizabeth: The Forgotten Years —Catharine Arnold, author of Necropolis: London and Its Dead —Booklist
