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Hester: The remarkable life of Dr Johnson's 'Dear Mistress'

Ian McIntyre

Hester Thrale's relationship with Dr Johnson has been the subject of endless speculation. She was his sparring partner, his most intimate confidante, his 'Dear Mistress', and one of the most remarkable women of her time.

Hester Salusbury was a child prodigy. Later, as Hester Thrale, her wit, learning and vivacity would attract the greats of the day, Joshua Reynolds, Fanny Burney, Boswell, David Garrick and Edmund Burke to the household at Streatham Park.

She published to great popularity and acclaim on Johnson, irritating the hell out of Boswell, and remains one of our most perceptive sources. One of our first female historians, a feminist without knowing it, she also broke new ground in politics and business.

When her husband died, rumours flew that she'd wed Johnson. Instead, she ran off with an Italian music teacher. The scandal consumed London society -- and her relationship with her daughters. But Hester was passionately in love (it was a love that nearly killed her).

This is a brightly lit portrait of an exceptional woman whose life, loves and letters make a vivid and important contribution to our understanding of Georgian England.

Praise for Ian McIntyre's Dirt &; Deity: A Life of Robert Burns

‘If you read Burns, then buy this. If you don’t read Burns, then start.’ Economist

‘A shrewd, clear, comprehensive and wonderfully readable portrait of Burns as fallible man and gifted poet.’ A.C. Grayling, Financial Times

For Joshua Reynolds:

'Stunning and richly entertaining...superlative. Philip Hensher, The Times.

Sales points

No one was closer to Johnson. Her Anecdotes and Letters are more perceptive and less sentimental than Boswell�s Life .,A great 18th-century female figure with all the appeal of Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire but with added intellectual bite and better source material.,A highly regarded and well connected author who will be guaranteed review and media coverage.,There has always been much speculation about her 20 year relationship with Dr Johnson - including Beryl Bainbridge's novel about it, According to Queeny.

More about Ian McIntyre

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Praise for Hester: The remarkable life of Dr Johnson's 'Dear Mistress'

'Supremely entertaining' Tibor Fischer

'Fascinating' Telegraph

'A story of a remarkable if not altogether likeable woman, well told' Sunday Telegraph

Readers' comments

Laura

Sun 30th Aug 2009

Anyone who liked/worked to get this book published might be amused by the twitter feeds of Dr Johnson and Mrs Thrale.

http://twitter.com/HesterThrale
http://twitter.com/DrSamuelJohnson

Cover of Hester: The remarkable life of Dr Johnson's 'Dear Mistress' by Ian McIntyre

Constable
Hardback
Royal, 320 pp
Published 6^th Nov 2008
ISBN: 9781845294496
Markets: World English Language
RRP £25.00

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Reviews

"A reassessment of [Hester] is long overdue...Ian McIntyre has risen to the challenge, bringing to life this effervescent character and society...Crisp and exact."

Daily Telegraph

"An reassessment of [Hester] is long overdue ... Ian McIntyre has risen to the challenge, bringing to life this effervescent character and society ... Crisp and exact."
Daily Telegraph

"An elegant and witty examination of an era of wit and intellectual elegance: quite simply, one of the best biographies I"ve ever read."
Tibor Fischer

"I have read Ian MacIntyre"s Hester with sustained pleasure at its calm narrative nicely spiced with the hot stuff of Mrs Thrale"s ups and downs. The greatest pleasure is in the clever accumulation of detail; the spirit of adventure in Georgian life, and its breadth of cultured reading, suggests an England at once more rugged and more cultivated than today"s. Ian MacIntyre wears his learning lightly and brings Dr Johnson"s favourite female stridingly to life."
Frederic Raphael

"[A] marvellously rich biography"
Frances Wilson, The Sunday Times

"Packed with fascinating information and gives a taste of life in Georgian England...remarkable"
Sunday Express

"At last [Hester] has been given a detailed and sympathetic hearing"
Kate Chisholm, The Spectator

"Supremely entertaining"
Tibor Fischer

"Fascinating"
Telegraph

"A story of a remarkable if not altogether likeable woman, well told"
Sunday Telegraph

"The best biography of the year"
The Tablet

"McIntyre is to be commended for portraying Hester�s variability as the source of her strength rather than as a feminine weakness. In his affection and respect for her intellectual curiosity, emotional resilience and relish for life, he presents us with an 18th �century sensibility no less representative than Johnson�s, but one demanding recognition rather than reverence."
London Review of Books