Too Great a Lady: The Notorious, Glorious Life of Emma, Lady Hamilton

I found this novel to be incredibly well researched and very well written. Do not expect a happy ending. Emma's life was a very tragic one but she was a very strong, notorious woman who survived the best she could in times that were not easy for women (especially women who were not of the aristocracy) and rose to live a glorious life as wife of Lord William Hamilton and mistress to Lord Nelson. Sadly, Emma died in poverty and alone after the deaths of her husband and Nelson. If you want to read something light read something else. If you want to read a well-written historical novel about this fascinating woman do not miss reading Too Great A Lady.

This is a fascinating story about a remarkable woman. Amanda Elyot has done her research deeply and well, and it shows (she has even delved enough to come up with her own explanation of how Emma came by a personal pet phrase); the carefully detailed portrait of England (and Italy) at that time is vivid and persuasive. But the heart of the tale, of course, lies in one of the most (in)famous romances of that or any era, and this novel recreates the passion between Emma Hamilton and Lord Nelson with an unswerving emotional commitment of its own. It is a tribute to Elyot's accomplishment that the sections of the book detailing Emma's life before she met Nelson are as compelling as the grand passion itself, when it arrives, between the famous beauty and the legendary hero who was so smitten with her that he was willing to defy much of society to stay at her side. This is the kind of story that could nurture the romantic passion in any heart, and few who read it with an interest in feeling what Emma's world must have been, and felt, like are likely to be disappointed. This is truly a love story for the ages.

Emma's story is tragic and amazing. Rags to riches to rags to riches to rags... abandonment and love; love and abandonment. Military and political intrigue, social infamy and ostracism. The Beau Monde was as cruel as it was beautiful. Emy Lyons was born a poor beauty in Wales, and at an early age learned that men were drawn to her looks and felt entitled to take what they wanted from her. Emy comes to see and value herself through the eyes of the men around her, and quickly learns how to use her looks to flirt & fornicate as a means to rise above the squalor, feed her mother, and in the process, educate herself and live a fascinating life among fascinating people. The men of the Beau Monde have a reputation of their own - gambling, drinking, affairs, wife swapping & politicking (see recommended reads below). These men would acquire and trade Emy's company as they would their debts, completely immune to her humanity. After being impregnated and abandoned by one, picked up by another whom she loves, she is again traded off to his Uncle! She finds herself in Naples with her mother in tow, and realizes too late that she's been given away. Emma makes the best of it and comes to love Sir Hamilton, Ambassador to the Court of Two Sicilies, and lives a glamorous high life among Royalty and Nobles for several years. While the men might accept (and covet) her, the women do not. Emma's "sordid past" - similar to many of their own, sans money - is too much to forgive this young, beautiful interloper. Emma meets Lord Nelson while happily married, and their romance grew out of friendship, respect and reliance. Emma was a strategic force in the wars between France, Italy and England, and her diplomacy skills were invaluable. She finds herself in love with the nation's hero, and he with her. Their romance is heartwrenchingly disrupted by long deployments at sea, the hypocracy of the Beau Monde, and guilt and social rules they cannot escape. Emma hides her grief and insecurity with constant vivacity and magnums of Champagne, and carries on in the hope of retiring with her lover and living quietly and happily. Lord Nelson's tragic death ruins her, killing her spirit, robbing her of a pension to maintain her lifestyle, which now includes raising their child, and forever hiding herself as the mother of Horatia. After so many years in the eye of society, she dies quite alone in France and is nearly erased from history. For another dose of Beau Monde largess and cruelty, I recommend "The Secret Wife of King George IV" if you like it in the format of historical fiction & romance, or read "Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire" by Amanda Foreman for a biography of the most famous woman of the era. When one compares Emma's life to Georgiana's, it seems that family rank is all that separated them.

Much has been written about Admiral Horatio Nelson and his exploits during the Napoleonic Wars. However, the well written and researched "Too Great A Lady" provides a fresh perspective on Nelson's human side and provides an aficionado of the Napoleonic Wars with a better understanding of the 'Little Admiral' as seen through the eyes of Emma Hamilton, his lover. Elyot's attention to detail also reveals the politics and social milieu of England and the Two Sicilies at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th Centuries in a manner that buffs of that era will appreciate. A great read!

Once again Amanda Elyot has displayed her unusual flair for putting her readers into the action. In her latest book about Emma, Lady Hamilton, she reveals the life of a woman whose greatest claims to fame were her ability to seduce men and her infamous affair with England's greatest war hero, Lord Horatio Nelson. Elyot vividly describes Emma's lowly beginnings as Emily Lyons, a poverty stricken child in cold, damp, North Wales. She follows her as she escapes to London where she came under the aegis of a number of "protectors", who saw that she developed into a properly educated young woman, introducing her to the arts and languages as she slid from one well-connected suitor to the next, seeking ever better prospects for prosperity and fame. While her need for true love, and wealth were indeed great, she was in actuality, cavalierly passed on from one man to another like a beautiful collector's item (rather than a person with real feelings and emotions) in what amounted to "business" deals that benefitted the men, yet betrayed her. She was also twice compelled to renounce the daughters she bore (with two different lovers); until her dying day never revealing her relationship to them. The first time was to assure a good life for both herself and her child; the second was due to the hypocrisy of high-born society. Yet, for all of her flaws, she was also a compassionate and loving nurse and care giver to her men and to others who truly mattered to her. Under the wing of Sir William Hamilton, His Majesty's Ambassador to the Two Sicilies, stationed in Naples (whom she eventually married), she was instrumental in the politics and intrigue of the day as the best friend and confidante to Queen Maria Carolina for whom she acted as a courier and translator, helping to thwart the invading army of French republicans. She was the darling of Neapolitan Society -feted by all the cognoscenti -yet never recognized by the British Crown for her efforts and accomplishments. She ended her days in a London debtor's prison as she tried to maintain her lifestyle, with no income to sustain it. She literally went from poverty to poverty with time in between to live the highest life possible, yet with accolades and appreciation that didn't transcend her circumstances. Amanda Elyot writes about a heroine little known in popular literature and allows readers see both the delight and despair of her multi-faceted and exciting life. Its a lively and engaging story!