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helenephoebe's review
3.0
Review? - I have wanted to read this book for a while. It's been sitting on my shelves for a few months, but when it became our book club read for the month, I finally had an excuse! However, I was a little disappointed, in the beginning especially. I think it was a bit higgledy piggeledy in places as it jumped between the lives of the main protagonists. I really liked Mary Eleanor as a person, and I thought that her heart was in the right place, even if she did make some silly mistakes. Having read quite a few Regency romances, this book really opened my eyes to the reality of some Georgian marriages.
General Subject/s? - History / Georgian Britain / Marriage / Social History
Recommend? – Yes.
Rating? - 14/20
General Subject/s? - History / Georgian Britain / Marriage / Social History
Recommend? – Yes.
Rating? - 14/20
angryglitterwitch's review against another edition
4.0
Bit of a trek but super well-researched. Bleak and horrifying story but worth the emotional rollercoaster!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail
chrissireads's review against another edition
3.0
I was quite compelled to read this book after the title grabbed me! The author is very lucky that she was able to get first hand sources by Mary Bowes. This made the book very readable. Worth checking out.
bibliobethreads's review against another edition
This book wasn't what I expected it to be but still a good read! I loved mary eleanor and couldn't believe the traumas she went through. Very interesting!
emmaj_xo's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.0
“… you may shoot me, or beat me to a mummy: my person is in your power, but my mind is beyond your reach.”
I’ll admit this book didn’t keep my attention for much of the first half in its detailed histories of the families involved. But once Moore began detailing the events of the marriage the book kept me it it’s grip. Truly a difficult and disturbing read that continues to detail more and more depraved acts by a truly disgusting, worthless man. Mary Eleanor Bowes’ spirit as she continues to fight the courts for her independence is inspiring. But there is another victim mentioned at the end of this book that that crushed any elation I had felt at Mary’s freedom. Quite honestly feels like a horror novel at times. But my gosh if you want to learn about women’s rights and marriage law in the 18th century then this is a crucial case study.
I’ll admit this book didn’t keep my attention for much of the first half in its detailed histories of the families involved. But once Moore began detailing the events of the marriage the book kept me it it’s grip. Truly a difficult and disturbing read that continues to detail more and more depraved acts by a truly disgusting, worthless man. Mary Eleanor Bowes’ spirit as she continues to fight the courts for her independence is inspiring. But there is another victim mentioned at the end of this book that that crushed any elation I had felt at Mary’s freedom. Quite honestly feels like a horror novel at times. But my gosh if you want to learn about women’s rights and marriage law in the 18th century then this is a crucial case study.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Sexual violence
bookbuyingaddict's review against another edition
5.0
Probably the best non fictional historical true drama you'll ever read. Iv recommended it to everyone I know. It's truly gripping so do your self a huge favour & just read it.
librarianonparade's review against another edition
4.0
When a man can be described after his death by one of his closest friends as, "cowardly, insidious, hypocritical, tyrannic, mean, violent, selfish, jealous, revengeful, inhuman and savage, without a countervailing quality...a villain to the backbone", you know you're dealing with someone modern psychiatry would probably term a psychopath. It was the misfortune of Mary Eleanor Bowes, Countess of Strathmore and ancestor to the current Queen Elizabeth II through her mother Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, to be married to him.
Mary's story is a difficult one to read. For eight years she was systemically beaten, abused, tortured, imprisoned, starved, humiliated and persecuted by her husband, who had tricked her into marriage in a venal play for her fortune. Her husband Andrew Robinson Stoney isolated her from her children from her first marriage, brought his mistresses and prostitutes into their home, forbade her to leave the house, even to walk in the gardens, ran up huge debts against her estate, raped her maids and fathered any number of illegitimate children, turned the household staff against and installed spies wherever Mary went. He enticed his own sister into his clutches and kept her prisoner for over two years, in an attempt to make an advantageous marriage (advantageous for him) to a wealthy suitor. When Mary finally found the courage to make her escape, helped by her maids, he abducted her in broad daylight, despite innumerable cases pending against him in the courts, and prompted a nationwide hue-and-cry and one of the earliest police manhunts before Mary was rescued.
One would think this litany of horrifying abuse and domestic violence would be enough even in the eighteenth century, but it took four years of legal wrangling and public humiliation before Mary was finally free of him. The concept that a husband was entitled by law to reasonably chastise his wife was so engrained in English law that Mary's successful outcome was something quite exceptional - but then few husbands were quite so sadistic and brutal as Stoney, even in a era when wife-beating was not just permissible but perfectly socially acceptable.
I can't exactly say I enjoyed this book, although it is excellently reading and eminently sympathetic to Mary. Reading about such horrific domestic assault, even at a distance of 200+ years, isn't an enjoyable experience. But Mary Eleanor Bowes is a truly admirable figure, notwithstanding the promiscuous, reckless and irresponsible youth that led her into her ill-advised marriage to begin with. To withstand the torture she did for eight years and still find the strength to escape and then face her torturer in court, one cannot help but admire her whole-heartedly.
Mary's story is a difficult one to read. For eight years she was systemically beaten, abused, tortured, imprisoned, starved, humiliated and persecuted by her husband, who had tricked her into marriage in a venal play for her fortune. Her husband Andrew Robinson Stoney isolated her from her children from her first marriage, brought his mistresses and prostitutes into their home, forbade her to leave the house, even to walk in the gardens, ran up huge debts against her estate, raped her maids and fathered any number of illegitimate children, turned the household staff against and installed spies wherever Mary went. He enticed his own sister into his clutches and kept her prisoner for over two years, in an attempt to make an advantageous marriage (advantageous for him) to a wealthy suitor. When Mary finally found the courage to make her escape, helped by her maids, he abducted her in broad daylight, despite innumerable cases pending against him in the courts, and prompted a nationwide hue-and-cry and one of the earliest police manhunts before Mary was rescued.
One would think this litany of horrifying abuse and domestic violence would be enough even in the eighteenth century, but it took four years of legal wrangling and public humiliation before Mary was finally free of him. The concept that a husband was entitled by law to reasonably chastise his wife was so engrained in English law that Mary's successful outcome was something quite exceptional - but then few husbands were quite so sadistic and brutal as Stoney, even in a era when wife-beating was not just permissible but perfectly socially acceptable.
I can't exactly say I enjoyed this book, although it is excellently reading and eminently sympathetic to Mary. Reading about such horrific domestic assault, even at a distance of 200+ years, isn't an enjoyable experience. But Mary Eleanor Bowes is a truly admirable figure, notwithstanding the promiscuous, reckless and irresponsible youth that led her into her ill-advised marriage to begin with. To withstand the torture she did for eight years and still find the strength to escape and then face her torturer in court, one cannot help but admire her whole-heartedly.
lushbug's review against another edition
4.0
A very interesting book charting one woman’s life in 18th century England. For a non fiction book it isn’t heavy going and its a proper page turner!
Andrew Stoney (husband number 2) is the most vile, unrepentant pig ever and I wish he wasn’t dead so I could slap him!
Poor Mary makes two bad marriage choices in her life and its amazing to me how little rights she had once married. Men were allowed to beat and rape their wives and took full ownership of all their property leaving woman completely in their control. Her previous husbands family had custody of her children and she wasn’t allowed to see them. Her current husband Andrew packed of her children to boarding school and discated what she could eat and drink, when she could go outside and even banned her from walking in her gardens in a bid to make her as subservient as possible, He paraded his mistresses in her place and even made her take them on as maids and treat them as equals in her own home. She endured humiliation after humiliation and it was only the compassion of her females maids that gave her strength to leave him and fight for her wealth and children creating a media frenzy.
A compelling read and one that makes you realise how far women’s rights have come and how little rights women had only two hundred years ago.
Andrew Stoney (husband number 2) is the most vile, unrepentant pig ever and I wish he wasn’t dead so I could slap him!
Poor Mary makes two bad marriage choices in her life and its amazing to me how little rights she had once married. Men were allowed to beat and rape their wives and took full ownership of all their property leaving woman completely in their control. Her previous husbands family had custody of her children and she wasn’t allowed to see them. Her current husband Andrew packed of her children to boarding school and discated what she could eat and drink, when she could go outside and even banned her from walking in her gardens in a bid to make her as subservient as possible, He paraded his mistresses in her place and even made her take them on as maids and treat them as equals in her own home. She endured humiliation after humiliation and it was only the compassion of her females maids that gave her strength to leave him and fight for her wealth and children creating a media frenzy.
A compelling read and one that makes you realise how far women’s rights have come and how little rights women had only two hundred years ago.