Writing
My debut book, An Absent Life Elizabeth, the "mad" Duchess of Albemarle, 1654-1734,delves into the hidden life of Elizabeth Cavendish, Duchess of Albemarle, often dismissed as “the mad duchess.” In An Absent Life, her story is meticulously reconstructed, revealing a woman shaped by her era’s gender and societal constraints, whose life was overshadowed by misdiagnosis and neglect.
With vivid historical detail, the book explores Elizabeth’s journey through the grandeur of 17th-century English aristocracy, her struggles with mental health, and the complex web of familial and societal pressures. Drawing on rare archival evidence, the book paints an intimate portrait of a woman largely forgotten by history.
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Blackwater Press
I do not think the brave, resilient, misunderstood, and unfortunate Elizabeth Albemarle could have found a more wonderful biographer. The extent of research, filled with a profound empathy for this forgotten woman, has resulted in the portrayal of a lost world that feels utterly vivid. Nothing has escaped his forensic eye for detail and for the atmosphere of the time.
—Juliet Nicolson, author and journalist