Book description
Family trees are best viewed on a tablet.
From the bestselling author of 'Elizabeth and Mary', the remarkable love
story of Dorothy Osborne and Sir William Temple, set against the
turbulence and romance of 17th-century England.
Sir William Temple (1628-99), handsome and intelligent, son of a staunch
Parliamentarian, become a celebrated essayist and diplomat in Charles
II's time. Captivating him from their first meeting, when he was just
20, Dorothy Osborne (1627-1696) was an intellectual romantic from a
family of committed Royalists. After a long and at times desperate
courtship, in which Dorothy rejected numerous other suitors (including
Henry Cromwell, son of the Lord Protector), they married in 1654. Their
union had been fiercely opposed by both their families, but they went on
to build a passionate marriage that brought personal tragedies and
public triumphs and betrayals during the huge political upheavals of the age.
Their relationship was intellectually collaborative; both were gifted
writers, and possessed of strikingly modern sensibilities. Seventy-seven
letters written by Dorothy to William during their long clandestine
courtship survive, masterpieces of wit and style, with a conversational
intimacy that transports the reader to her side. Both were at the social
and political centre of life: confidants of William of Orange and Mary,
who were instrumental in promoting their marriage, contemporaries of
Pepys, and employers of Jonathan Swift.
Drawing upon extensive research and the Temples' own extraordinary
writings, Jane Dunn brings to life their remarkable story, offering a
rare perspective on one of the most turbulent periods of British
history. In illuminating the personal lives, politics and passions of
two endearing and independent-minded people, she brilliantly captures
not only the story of a marriage, but the spirit of a dawning modern
age. 'Jane Dunn has pieced together the marvellous story of their
clandestine courtship…what is wonderfully demonstrated in Dunn's account
of their later lives is the sense of this being a real story, as well as
a romance…their love story is beautiful and Dunn brings to life the
dramatic age in which they lived.' Daily Mail
'“Read My Heart” provides a richly detailed backdrop to Dorothy
Osborne's letters, vividly recalling the boisterous bonhomie of 17th
century England.' Mail on Sunday
'Jane Dunn is a gifted storyteller, who writes with fluency and wit…she
has produced a biography that is also an excellent guide to the
tumultuous seven decades through which the Temples lived and loved.'
Sunday Telegraph
'Dunn shows her skills as a solidly good historian, painting a vivid
picture of a free-thinking intellectual…a double life is a tricky
enterprise…but Dunn…an expert in the dynamics of couples maintains a
sense of balance throughout.' Sunday Times Jane Dunn is the biographer
of the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell, and the
biographer of Mary Shelley. She has written a groundbreaking biography
of Antonia White and most recently, the bestselling 'Elizabeth and
Mary'. She is Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and lives in
Bath.
