The Favourite: The Life of Sarah Churchill and the History Behind the Major Motion Picture

by Ophelia Field

Overview

'An incredible story crackling with royal passion, envy, ambition and betrayal ... Field's account of the psychological power play between Queen Anne and her confidante is surely definitive. A tour de force' Lucy Worsley

Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, was as glamorous as she was controversial. Politically influential and independently powerful, she was an intimate, and then a blackmailer, of Queen Anne, accusing her of keeping lesbian favourites - including Sarah's own cousin Abigail Masham.

Ophelia Field's masterly biography brings Sarah Churchill's own voice, passionate and intelligent, back to life. Here is an unforgettable portrait of a woman who cared intensely about how we would remember her - perfect for fans interested in the history behind the major motion picture starring Rachel Weisz with Olivia Colman and Emma Stone.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781474605366
Publisher:	Orion
Publication date:	11/29/2018
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	864,714
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Ophelia Field was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, and the London School of Economics. She has worked as a policy analyst and consultant for a wide range of refugee and human rights organisations, including Human Rights Watch, UNHCR, English PEN and the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights. Simultaneously, Ophelia researched and wrote The Favourite, originally published in 2002, and The Kit-Cat Club, which in 2008 was selected by the Financial Times as one of their History Books of the Year. She lives in London, with her partner and children.
Ophelia Field was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, and the London School of Economics. She has worked as a policy analyst and consultant for a wide range of refugee and human rights organisations, including Human Rights Watch, UNHCR, English PEN and the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights. Simultaneously, Ophelia researched and wrote THE FAVOURITE, originally published in 2002, and THE KIT-CAT CLUB, which in 2008 was selected by the FINANCIAL TIMES as one of their History Books of the Year. She lives in London, with her partner and children.

Editorial Reviews

Nowhere is the subtlety of Ophelia Field's historical understanding more apparent than in her delicate reading of the relationship between Sarah and Anne. That it is Field's first book is something of a wonder ... An outstandingly accomplished debut—GUARDIAN

She is a marvellous subject for a biography and Ophelia Field's book, capacious and beautifully detailed, does her full justice. It is the first work by a writer who is a master of her craft—INDEPENDENT

Other historians have skirted around the true nature of Sarah and Anne's passionate friendship, with its lesbian overtones, but Ophelia Field tackles the subject courageously ... During her long life Sarah managed to quarrel with almost everyone and took great care in editing her papers to ensure that posterity would know her side of the story, which is covered exhaustively by Field in this impressive debut—THE TIMES

Scholarly, highly articulate, and above all never dull—SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Field has created an unforgettable picture of a remarkable figure ... Instead of fictionalizing her, Field shows how Sarah became a kind of fictional and artistic icon, a symbol of certain kinds of power that remained free of the checks and balances that the new settlement and constitution was bent on establishing. Even after 250 years, she fascinates like nobody else of her time—SUNDAY HERALD

A quite astonishing tale—LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS

Once you have started reading Ophelia Field's splendid book, it is hard to put it down—THE LADY

Scholarly but never less than fascinating, Field's debut truly brings to life the complex character of Sarah Churchill and the last of the Stuart courts—ABERDEEN EVENING EXPRESS

Field draws effectively on Sarah's letters and self-justifying memoirs to produce a remarkable portrait—SUNDAY TIMES

From the Publisher