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Georgian Saga #10
The Goddess of the Green Room
Like his brothers. William, Duke of Clarence, has had his share of romance and intrigue. And when he falls in love with Dorothy Jordan, the comic genius of the Drury Land Theatre, gossipmongers are ecstatic, for William is not the only one with a shady past. Dorothy's notorious offstage life combined with William's less than decorous behavior will make great copy for the scandal sheets, while their affair lasts. But everyone is surprised when what should have been a casual dalliance develops into a twenty year marriage in all but name, complete with ten children.
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First published January 1, 1971
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About the author
Jean Plaidy
189 books1,591 followersEleanor Alice Burford, Mrs. George Percival Hibbert was a British author of about 200 historical novels, most of them under the pen name Jean Plaidy which had sold 14 million copies by the time of her death. She chose to use various names because of the differences in subject matter between her books; the best-known, apart from Plaidy, are Victoria Holt (56 million) and Philippa Carr (3 million). Lesser known were the novels Hibbert published under her maiden name Eleanor Burford, or the pseudonyms of Elbur Ford, Kathleen Kellow and Ellalice Tate. Many of her readers under one penname never suspected her other identities.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 19, 2009
Let me just start by saying that I’ve moved this book way up my list of favourite Plaidys. In fact, right now it stands as number 1.
Goddess of The Green Room is about the life of the famous 18th century actress, Dorothy Jordan and her eventual long-lasting relationship to George III’s third son, William.
As a very young girl, born and raised in Ireland, Dorothy started out her acting career in order to help support her family. Her father had left the family, and her mother, who was once a well-known actress, could no longer provide for them due to illness. Their only choice for survival was for Dorothy to find work and bring home the bread.
Fortunately, Dorothy had an amazing talent for comedy. She was blessed with a tiny and very swift body, which initially helped her attain roles which were written mainly for boys. Dorothy dressed up in ‘breeches’ or types of tights for these particular roles and this proved to be deliciously comical and enticing to watch. The audiences loved her and propelled her to the status of, much- in- demand- and adored celebrity.
However, Dorothy did not attain this high status easily. She worked incredibly hard and had to endure abuse, rejection, failed loves, a failed marriage, being the sole provider for numerous children and other family members (including the men in her life)…- and lastly, a royal yet, shaky love relationship that would in the end, vanish.
Although some would say that her role as mistress to William put her in the same category as courtesans or as one who claimed several lovers; In reality, Dorothy was a one-man woman throughout. She was loyal to love and never made any demands- nor was she ever a ‘kept’ woman. In terms of her relationship with William, Dorothy really made him wait. He courted her incessantly- and she consistently resisted. It was a very long and platonic courtship. Finally when she consented, the two went on to have a long and loving relationship that produced ten children; which Dorothy financially supported throughout.
What was most interesting in this delectable read was to find, weaved into the story, the unraveling lives of that colorful George III’s dynasty. Goddess of the Green Room combines all the bits of notable history involving the individual monarchs and other noteworthy figures of the times. For instance, we get a glimpse of George IV’s failed marriage to Caroline of Brunswick, his Maria, all of his glamour and obsessions, George III’s illness and disappointment with his sons, (we also discover why the famous ‘eh’ at the end of his sentences)- and there’s even a section with Perdita. We experience it all as the pieces of the puzzle come together perfectly.
Not only is this an engaging read, its brilliant storyline is inviting with historical accuracy and colorful characters. Goddess of the Green Room exceeded all my expectations. This is an excellent read and I highly recommend it.
Interesting Tid-bit: I was intrigued by Plaidy’s dedication at the beginning of the book:
‘For William’s and Dorothy’s Great-Granddaughter, HERBE ELSNA - With great admiration for her work, gratitude for her friendship and love for herself’
This inscription is what actually led my curiosity- and I just had to read the book.
Excellent!
Goddess of The Green Room is about the life of the famous 18th century actress, Dorothy Jordan and her eventual long-lasting relationship to George III’s third son, William.
As a very young girl, born and raised in Ireland, Dorothy started out her acting career in order to help support her family. Her father had left the family, and her mother, who was once a well-known actress, could no longer provide for them due to illness. Their only choice for survival was for Dorothy to find work and bring home the bread.
Fortunately, Dorothy had an amazing talent for comedy. She was blessed with a tiny and very swift body, which initially helped her attain roles which were written mainly for boys. Dorothy dressed up in ‘breeches’ or types of tights for these particular roles and this proved to be deliciously comical and enticing to watch. The audiences loved her and propelled her to the status of, much- in- demand- and adored celebrity.
However, Dorothy did not attain this high status easily. She worked incredibly hard and had to endure abuse, rejection, failed loves, a failed marriage, being the sole provider for numerous children and other family members (including the men in her life)…- and lastly, a royal yet, shaky love relationship that would in the end, vanish.
Although some would say that her role as mistress to William put her in the same category as courtesans or as one who claimed several lovers; In reality, Dorothy was a one-man woman throughout. She was loyal to love and never made any demands- nor was she ever a ‘kept’ woman. In terms of her relationship with William, Dorothy really made him wait. He courted her incessantly- and she consistently resisted. It was a very long and platonic courtship. Finally when she consented, the two went on to have a long and loving relationship that produced ten children; which Dorothy financially supported throughout.
What was most interesting in this delectable read was to find, weaved into the story, the unraveling lives of that colorful George III’s dynasty. Goddess of the Green Room combines all the bits of notable history involving the individual monarchs and other noteworthy figures of the times. For instance, we get a glimpse of George IV’s failed marriage to Caroline of Brunswick, his Maria, all of his glamour and obsessions, George III’s illness and disappointment with his sons, (we also discover why the famous ‘eh’ at the end of his sentences)- and there’s even a section with Perdita. We experience it all as the pieces of the puzzle come together perfectly.
Not only is this an engaging read, its brilliant storyline is inviting with historical accuracy and colorful characters. Goddess of the Green Room exceeded all my expectations. This is an excellent read and I highly recommend it.
Interesting Tid-bit: I was intrigued by Plaidy’s dedication at the beginning of the book:
‘For William’s and Dorothy’s Great-Granddaughter, HERBE ELSNA - With great admiration for her work, gratitude for her friendship and love for herself’
This inscription is what actually led my curiosity- and I just had to read the book.
Excellent!
January 9, 2022
I'm sorry to say that this is not a good book. I would go so far as to say that it's a bad book. It is boring, bland, and void of any plot or character arc.
The book begins with a young Dorothy encouraging her sister, Hester, into going on the Dublin stage. We follow along as Hester fails and Dorothy becomes an actress in her place, is assaulted and impregnated, comes to England, engages in a long-term affair with a lawyer, falls in love with the Duke of Clarence, lives with him as his wife for twenty years, loses him, and dies alone in France.
But ... there is no story. It reads like someone took a biography and decided that it should be rewritten as vignettes with dialogue. There's no rising and falling action, there's no theme, there's no novel.
I've always been curious about Jean Plaidy, as she had a great reputation for historical fiction. I knew it was a pen name and that she had others, including Victoria Holt, but I didn't realize that she had six others as well. It seems incredible that she could write so many books a year to support all of them, but if the rest were anything like this, it's actually quite easy to believe. Each chapter is made up of several discrete scenes separated by asterisks, some of them very brief. There is occasionally a moment of interiority, but they do not connect into actual interior lives for any of the characters. Her reputation was, I think, made on the basis of her historical accuracy, which is a lot like Georgette Heyer's: shallow, based on including facts that are correct. Characters don't have to really consider their actions, they do what they do because the biographies Plaidy consulted said that's what they did.
The most annoying thing is that there are flashes of things that could be very interesting novels if written by someone who had any interest in writing a story and exploring what it actually would have been like to be in these situations. The most intriguing character is Dorothy's eldest daughter, Fanny. She is the product of rape, but Dorothy is determined to love her anyway; the only father she ever knows, Dorothy's first lover, shuns her in favor of his own daughters with her mother; after Dorothy takes up with Prince William, she and her half-sisters have to live apart from their mother so that she can devote herself to him and their new half-siblings; she marries a man who is eventually so abusive to her that she takes laudanum to cope. And the book is so unsympathetic to her. The crime of her conception isn't just a problem within the world of the novel, but to the writer, it seems, as she's frequently described as being resentful and unpleasant. Near the end, Dorothy wishes she would go to India after her husband ... you mean the one who treats her so badly? You would rather your daughter be abused than annoying to you? Likewise, there could be so much tension in the fact that Dorothy abandons her children in service of her pseudo-husband, who finds hearing about them unpleasant and utterly fails to help them with dowries even though he'd pledged to and even though the reason Dorothy can't pay for them is because he drains her money. Instead of this creating complexity, it's just that sometimes Dorothy is happy and sometimes she's sad, sometimes William is a nice man and sometimes he's a total jerk.
The book begins with a young Dorothy encouraging her sister, Hester, into going on the Dublin stage. We follow along as Hester fails and Dorothy becomes an actress in her place, is assaulted and impregnated, comes to England, engages in a long-term affair with a lawyer, falls in love with the Duke of Clarence, lives with him as his wife for twenty years, loses him, and dies alone in France.
But ... there is no story. It reads like someone took a biography and decided that it should be rewritten as vignettes with dialogue. There's no rising and falling action, there's no theme, there's no novel.
I've always been curious about Jean Plaidy, as she had a great reputation for historical fiction. I knew it was a pen name and that she had others, including Victoria Holt, but I didn't realize that she had six others as well. It seems incredible that she could write so many books a year to support all of them, but if the rest were anything like this, it's actually quite easy to believe. Each chapter is made up of several discrete scenes separated by asterisks, some of them very brief. There is occasionally a moment of interiority, but they do not connect into actual interior lives for any of the characters. Her reputation was, I think, made on the basis of her historical accuracy, which is a lot like Georgette Heyer's: shallow, based on including facts that are correct. Characters don't have to really consider their actions, they do what they do because the biographies Plaidy consulted said that's what they did.
The most annoying thing is that there are flashes of things that could be very interesting novels if written by someone who had any interest in writing a story and exploring what it actually would have been like to be in these situations. The most intriguing character is Dorothy's eldest daughter, Fanny. She is the product of rape, but Dorothy is determined to love her anyway; the only father she ever knows, Dorothy's first lover, shuns her in favor of his own daughters with her mother; after Dorothy takes up with Prince William, she and her half-sisters have to live apart from their mother so that she can devote herself to him and their new half-siblings; she marries a man who is eventually so abusive to her that she takes laudanum to cope. And the book is so unsympathetic to her. The crime of her conception isn't just a problem within the world of the novel, but to the writer, it seems, as she's frequently described as being resentful and unpleasant. Near the end, Dorothy wishes she would go to India after her husband ... you mean the one who treats her so badly? You would rather your daughter be abused than annoying to you? Likewise, there could be so much tension in the fact that Dorothy abandons her children in service of her pseudo-husband, who finds hearing about them unpleasant and utterly fails to help them with dowries even though he'd pledged to and even though the reason Dorothy can't pay for them is because he drains her money. Instead of this creating complexity, it's just that sometimes Dorothy is happy and sometimes she's sad, sometimes William is a nice man and sometimes he's a total jerk.
January 28, 2023
Dora explored: after finishing Claire Tomalin’s excellent biography, it was mildly interesting to see how the same subject is portrayed in fiction. Jean Plaidy, née Eleanor Hibbert, who also asked for Philippa Carr, Victoria Holt and various other aliases to be taken into consideration, was noted for her research (much facilitated by Kensington central library, fact fans) although her writing was rarely above the journeyman. Goddess of the Green Room demonstrates amply what made her such a popular author as well as the limitations of her style. When she’s good - scenes at court, the life of the young princes, William and Dorothea’s domestic life at Bushy - she’s very good: pacy, strong narrative and good entertainment value editing a lot of the mundane. But the chapters on Dora’s early life, just why she became so famous and the excitement of theatre life, fail to capture any of the roar of the greasepaint or smell of the crowd. And at times it’s poorly edited: a paragraph about a looking glass appears to imply, for want of a judicious comma, that she had a daughter named Richard. How very modern, I thought.
Mostly, though it’s a good, uncomplicated read and one can see why people like my mother, who used to consume Plaidy books voraciously, could justify the habit: they’re educational, after a fashion. Unlike today’s make it up because learning is boring Bridgerton etc. And, for all the heaving bosoms and dot dot dot implying after teatime activity, Mrs H is surprisingly in accord with the Tomalin: Dora was a woman ahead of her time - smart, resourceful and good at her job.
It’s also clear that where the royal family is concerned little changes with time (and I’m wondering if the author harboured subversive anti-monarchist tendencies): there’s a chapter where George III, previously mocked and reviled for his petit bourgeois manner and increasing dottiness, not to mention his louche and degenerate sons, is the subject of an assassination attempt at the theatre. He faces it down bravely, and wins the admiration of the crowd, and with coverage in the press, there’s an uptick in public approval of the royal family. Sadly, the sons quickly conspire to ruin the moment, their combined buffoonery and appalling behaviour dragging the family back down into opprobrium. Plus ça change, your highness?
What remains unanswered in both books is why clever, ambitious Mrs Jordan saddled herself with a jowly, pop-eyed Hanoverian whose family was already riddled with insanity and disease. It wasn’t the money, for perma-indebted Silly Billy largely depended on what she could earn as an in-demand actress to fund his lavish tastes, and indeed he dumped her when the lure of a rich heiress tempted him away. Love, actually?
Mostly, though it’s a good, uncomplicated read and one can see why people like my mother, who used to consume Plaidy books voraciously, could justify the habit: they’re educational, after a fashion. Unlike today’s make it up because learning is boring Bridgerton etc. And, for all the heaving bosoms and dot dot dot implying after teatime activity, Mrs H is surprisingly in accord with the Tomalin: Dora was a woman ahead of her time - smart, resourceful and good at her job.
It’s also clear that where the royal family is concerned little changes with time (and I’m wondering if the author harboured subversive anti-monarchist tendencies): there’s a chapter where George III, previously mocked and reviled for his petit bourgeois manner and increasing dottiness, not to mention his louche and degenerate sons, is the subject of an assassination attempt at the theatre. He faces it down bravely, and wins the admiration of the crowd, and with coverage in the press, there’s an uptick in public approval of the royal family. Sadly, the sons quickly conspire to ruin the moment, their combined buffoonery and appalling behaviour dragging the family back down into opprobrium. Plus ça change, your highness?
What remains unanswered in both books is why clever, ambitious Mrs Jordan saddled herself with a jowly, pop-eyed Hanoverian whose family was already riddled with insanity and disease. It wasn’t the money, for perma-indebted Silly Billy largely depended on what she could earn as an in-demand actress to fund his lavish tastes, and indeed he dumped her when the lure of a rich heiress tempted him away. Love, actually?
November 10, 2017
This is a fictionalized biography of the actress Dorothy Jordan, best known for her long relationship with George III's son William, Duke of Clarence. Like most of Jean Plaidy's other books, the history is pretty solid and the book flows well. I read her story of Caroline of Brunswick earlier this year, and I could definitely see the connections between that book and this one. They could both absolutely stand alone, though. The Georgian period in England is one that I've been interested in only recently, and these books are a pretty good fictionalized intro to the era.
February 23, 2022
Another well Loved favorites by this author The Goddess of The Green Room tells the story of Dorothy. An 18th century actress an her affair with a prince of England. Together they had a home, life, and children. A public love that was applauded by the people but despised by the court. Until one day he up and leaves her and the children. As an old man he pursues a young aristocrat only to be laughed at.
This is Dorothy's heart wrenching story of pulling herself up from nothing, falling in love, only to loose it all to an old man's wandering eye.
This is Dorothy's heart wrenching story of pulling herself up from nothing, falling in love, only to loose it all to an old man's wandering eye.
September 24, 2019
Picked this book up since the cover is bomb-dot-com. I paid only a euro for it, so I held onto it until I went on vacation, since it seemed like a light-enough read. Historical fiction isn't really my jam, but this was tolerable and predictable...or so I thought. The ending took me by surprise, but since it is based on reality I was bummed out for the rest of the day.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 12, 2013
The Story
Fictional retelling of the life of Dorothy Jordan, Regency actress and mistress of the Duke of Clarence (later William IV)
The Good
History comes alive and the reading is so smooth and easy that you've reached the end before you know it. This is fictionalized historical biography done the way it should be.
Plaidy juggles over a dozen principal characters and succeeds in bringing each one to life. She also gives a good idea of the theatrical world of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. It's also clear that she feels sympathy for her heroine, in contrast to, say, 'Perdita's Prince.'
The Bad
Some passages are a bit perfunctory, but very few. Also, Plaidy's general cheerfulness and optimism doesn't always strike the best note for a life which was often tragic and pathetic.
Fictional retelling of the life of Dorothy Jordan, Regency actress and mistress of the Duke of Clarence (later William IV)
The Good
History comes alive and the reading is so smooth and easy that you've reached the end before you know it. This is fictionalized historical biography done the way it should be.
Plaidy juggles over a dozen principal characters and succeeds in bringing each one to life. She also gives a good idea of the theatrical world of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. It's also clear that she feels sympathy for her heroine, in contrast to, say, 'Perdita's Prince.'
The Bad
Some passages are a bit perfunctory, but very few. Also, Plaidy's general cheerfulness and optimism doesn't always strike the best note for a life which was often tragic and pathetic.
June 23, 2020
Story of William of Clarence future William IV and actress Dorothy Jordan
Like his brothers. William, Duke of Clarence, has had his share of romance and intrigue. And when he falls in love with Dorothy Jordan, the comic genius of the Drury Land Theatre, gossipmongers are ecstatic, for William is not the only one with a shady past. Dorothy's notorious offstage life combined with William's less than decorous behavior will make great copy for the scandal sheets, while their affair lasts. But everyone is surprised when what should have been a casual dalliance develops into a twenty year marriage in all but name, complete with ten children.
Like his brothers. William, Duke of Clarence, has had his share of romance and intrigue. And when he falls in love with Dorothy Jordan, the comic genius of the Drury Land Theatre, gossipmongers are ecstatic, for William is not the only one with a shady past. Dorothy's notorious offstage life combined with William's less than decorous behavior will make great copy for the scandal sheets, while their affair lasts. But everyone is surprised when what should have been a casual dalliance develops into a twenty year marriage in all but name, complete with ten children.
January 19, 2011
The best (IMO) historical fiction writer of the 20th century presents an account of the life of the famous Mrs Jordan, the long time mistress of the future King William IV, and the mother of his numerous illegitimate children. Life is not all roses when you are a royal mistress... In fact, it's quite the opposite.
September 5, 2007
I was halfway through this story about an Irish actress' life when I realized I didn't read all of the blurb on the book jacket. The dumbfuck who wrote the blurb included the ending, so I didn't feel the desire to read it anymore. Awesome.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews