{"product_id":"devices-and-desires-9780062303004","title":"Devices and Desires","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"A dynamic portrait. . . . Bess of Hardwick emerges from \u003cem\u003eDevices and Desires\u003c\/em\u003e as a fascinating and influential woman well deserving of many historians' attention.\" -- \u003cem\u003eBBC History\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe critically acclaimed author of \u003cem\u003eServing Victoria\u003c\/em\u003e brilliantly illuminates the life of the little-known Bess of Hardwick--next to Queen Elizabeth I, the richest and most powerful woman in sixteenth-century England.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAided by a quartet of judicious marriages and a shrewd head for business, Bess of Hardwick rose from humble beginnings to become one of the most respected and feared Countesses in Elizabethan England--an entrepreneur who built a family fortune, created glorious houses--the last and greatest built as a widow in her 70s--and was deeply involved in matters of the court, including the custody of Mary Queen of Scots.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile Bess cultivated many influential courtiers, she also collected numerous enemies. Her embittered fourth husband once called her a woman of \"devices and desires,\" while nineteenth-century male historians portrayed her as a monster--\"a woman of masculine understanding and conduct, proud, furious, selfish and unfeeling.\" In the twenty-first century she has been neutered by female historians who recast her as a soft-hearted sort, much maligned, and misunderstood. As Kate Hubbard reveals, the truth of this highly accomplished woman lies somewhere in between: ruthless and scheming, Bess was sentimental and affectionate as well.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHubbard draws on more than 230 of Bess's letters, including correspondence with the Queen and her councilors, fond (and furious) missives between her husbands and children, and notes sharing titillating court gossip. The result is a rich, compelling portrait of a true feminist icon centuries ahead of her time--a complex, formidable, and decidedly modern woman captured in full as never before.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHubbard, Kate:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003eAfter leaving Oxford University, Kate Hubbard worked variously as a researcher, a teacher, a book reviewer and a publisher's reader and a freelance editor. She currently works for the Royal Literary Fund. She is the author of the acclaimed historical biography \u003cem\u003eServing Victoria\u003c\/em\u003e and lives in London and Dorset.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"HarperCollins Publishers","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50872435835154,"sku":"9780062303004","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_4711645d-291c-42ae-9613-e594bc0b9ba3.jpg?v=1737897440","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/devices-and-desires-9780062303004","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}