false 3961606 2 Born Lucie Dillon, to a half-French mother and an Anglo-Irish father, her world was Versailles and the court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. She married a French aristocrat, and narrowly survived the French Revolution, escaping to America at the time of Washington and Jefferson. Here, she lived a life of milking cows and chopping wood, having previously been accustomed to the lavish life of the French court. Returning to France prematurely, Lucie had to flee again, this time to England, where she took up sewing in order to support herself and her family. Repeatedly in the right place at the right time, Lucie saw the Battle of Waterloo, the fall of Napoleon and the return of Louis XVIII, and the Restoration. She was an outstanding diarist and a remarkable woman, who witnessed one of the most dramatic and brutal periods of history, playing the part of observer, commentator and, often, participant. For the last years of her life she was ambassadress to Holland and the Kingdom of Sardinia. Her friends included Wellington, Lafayette, Alexander Hamilton, Talleyrand and Madame de Stael. She died, aged 83, in Pisa. Mixing politics and court intrigue, social observation and everyday details about food, work, illness, children, manners and clothes, Caroline Moorehead paints a vivid and memorable portrait of an era - lasting three-quarters of a century - that saw the fortunes of France, as well as those of Lucie herself, rise and fall and rise again. Both as a witness and as a survivor, Lucie is a superb subject for an exemplary biographer. 4007311 5 3 2009 Dancing to the Precipice: Lucy Dillon, Marquise De La Tour Di Pin total:24|5:6|4:8|3:7|2:3|1:0| 24 89 128 11 0 0 false false Mon Jun 08 08:16:48 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 08 08:16:48 -0700 2009 TLS: "Dancing to the Precipice is not uniformly successful in conveying a sense of Lucie’s personal experience. The first part of the book is too crammed with the obligatory background information about the Enlightenment, the salons, urban life in Paris and so on, to leave much room for the h...more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Aug 12 11:19:18 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 07:13:39 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Sep 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 17 07:12:28 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 18 05:50:28 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Aug 02 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 02 14:53:24 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 02 14:56:51 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Aug 28 20:44:26 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 31 23:57:36 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Jul 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 21 04:59:22 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 11 16:03:50 -0700 2009 1
This book occasionally...more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Sep 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 21 08:36:39 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 21 08:39:24 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Sun Aug 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 06 11:56:23 -0800 2009 Sun Aug 30 20:49:06 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Oct 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 31 19:38:01 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 21 12:17:46 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jun 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon May 04 05:55:21 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 26 01:23:38 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Oct 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 09 18:41:52 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 19 05:03:32 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Mon Nov 09 13:10:46 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 09 13:10:50 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sat Nov 07 06:55:25 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 07 06:55:25 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Thu Nov 05 14:24:27 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 05 14:24:27 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sun Nov 01 10:43:37 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 01 10:44:14 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sun Nov 01 07:12:23 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 01 07:12:23 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Wed Oct 28 12:40:10 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 28 12:40:10 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Oct 21 17:39:02 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 21 17:39:02 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Oct 18 15:57:11 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 28 15:57:08 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sat Oct 17 13:31:19 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 17 13:31:19 -0700 2009