A tale of decadence & excess great houses & wild parties love & sexual intrigue this biography of Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire casts an astonishing new light on the nobility of eighteenth-century Engl&. Fashionable extravagant & universally adored Georgiana Cavendish Duchess of Devonshire was one of the most influential women of her day. But her flamboyant public persona hid a multitude of personal troubles: drug addiction vast gambling debts an unhappy menage a trois with her husband & best friend & a doomed affair with the future prime minister. Like her descendant Diana Princess of Wales Georgiana was a vulnerable woman living the life of an icon. This utterly absorbing biography recently made into a major film starring Keira Knightley as the Duchess of Devonshire paints a touching portrait of a misunderstood woman.