Great Women of Imperial Rome - Mothers and Wives of the Caesars
A good basic introduction to the stories of various notable women from Imperial Rome. This is perhaps more suited to those who are new to Ancient Rome, simply because Burns generally does not question the ancient sources, instead picking and choosing between the accounts of Tacitus, Dio and Suetonius for the Julio-Claudian period. Occasionally, he provides an argument of his own, but on the whole the work is more a summary of the key primary sources.
Singer and actress Lisse Roman seems to have it all -- beauty, brains, wealth, and success -- at least until her fourth marriage falls apart. Things get worse when Lisse's 19-year-old daughter, Nicci -- about to marry a man she's not sure she loves -- becomes the target of a ruthless kidnapper. Then there's Taylor, a onetime actress who is married to Lawrence Singer, one of Hollywood's most respected and influential producers.
No one in history had a more eventful career in matrimony than Henry VIII. His marriages were daring and tumultuous, and made instant legends of six very different women. In this remarkable study, David Starkey argues that the king was not a depraved philanderer but someone seeking happiness -- and a son. Knowingly or not, he elevated a group of women to extraordinary heights and changed the way a nation was governed.
Added by: Kahena | Karma: 11524.33 | Fiction literature | 6 February 2011
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The Wives of Henry Oades
An English accountant and his two wives are the subject of this intriguing and evocative debut novel based on a real-life 19th-century California bigamy case. A loving husband and attentive father, Henry Oades assures his wife, Margaret, that his posting to New Zealand will be temporary and the family makes the difficult journey. But during a Maori uprising, Margaret and her four children are kidnapped and the Oades's house is torched. Convinced his family is dead, Henry relocates to California and marries Nancy, a sad 20-year-old pregnant widow.
A family drama with stinging turns of dark comedy, the latest from Udall (The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint) is a superb performance and as comic as it is sublimely catastrophic. Golden Richards is a polygamist Mormon with four wives, 28 children, a struggling construction business, and a few secrets. He tells his wives that the brothel
