Author: Beryl Bainbridge
Year: 2001
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Genres/categories:
Historical fiction, Humor
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ISBNs:
9780786709823
9780786707737
0786709820
0786707739 |
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From the publisher (source: The Internet Book List):
Although melancholia and the gout have jaded the middle-aged Dr. Samuel Johnson's palate for society, the eminent, if increasingly irascible lexicographer nonetheless accepts an introduction to the excellent table of the wealthy Southwark brewer Henry Thrale. So it is that an evening in 1764, instead of meeting Johnson's very low expectations, takes him into the social orbit of the charming, vivacious Mrs. Thrale – and marks the beginning of an extraordinary relationship that will span the final two decades of his life.
As Johnson settles more and more comfortably into his niche among the Thrales, the family's already hectic domain is thrown further into lively chaos by the literary giant's retinue of sycophants, admirers, scholars, and friends like the illustrious actor David Garrick, poet Oliver Goldsmith, novelist Fanny Burney, and painter Joshua Reynolds. Ambiguities have meanwhile begun to complicate the bond between Johnson and Mrs. Thrale. Possessiveness vies with rejection, and sexual tensions stir beneath the decorous surfaces of everyday life.
At once of and beyond the social and emotional entanglements in the Thrales' colorful household stands Queeney. The neglected but spirited and prodigiously clever oldest daughter of the Thrales, Queeney offers an ironic perspective and witting commentary on the convolutions of Johnson's alliance with her fascinating mother – all of which further illuminate an intimate corner of the great man's life that his devoted biographer, James Boswell, never knew.
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