For centuries, the vagaries of human passion have moved, amused or
scandalized us. This intriguing book explores seven centuries of relationships
outside - and occasionally within - marriage, from all levels of society and
from the perspectives of both women and men. Drawing on divorce papers and
secret diaries, reports of trials and private correspondence, it uncovers
people's real attitudes to these transgressions from the rumbustious fourteenth
century to the 'permissive society' of the 1920s - and much swept under the
carpet along the way.
Val Horsler describes the pleasures and perils of shady liaisons through
famous and infamous cases, personal anecdotes, novels and poems. She exposes
dissolute aristocrats and their haunts, from Prince of Wales to Byron and
Rochester, the Cleveland Street scandal to the pleasure gardens of Vauxhall,
where seducers of both sexes stalked their prey. Yet she also portrays the lives
of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, driven to defy convention and
the prevailing moral code. Here we find the stories of Margery Paston, banned
from the house by her mother in 1469 for an alliance with the family's bailiff;
of Elizabeth Armistead, glamorous courtesan turned political wife; of young men
sent to govern the empire who took local wives and 'went native' intoxicating
foreign lands; of the runaway 'Ladies of Llangollen' who escaped from unwanted
marriage and lived together, entertaining passing celebrities for nearly 50
years.
Real-life tales of scandal and adultery, wartime romances and elopements
reveal the very real dangers of love that broke the rules - pregnancy, loss of
marriageability, employment, and a respectable future. 'All for Love' offers
fascinating insights into out ancestors' hidden desires.
Contents:
Introduction
1. Medieval Romances
2. Making Merry in Merrie England
3. 'Fooles for Love' in the 'Age of Reason'
4. Fallen Angels and Moral Mazes
5. New Woman and Old Adam
6. The Great War and the Roaring Twenties
7. Playing it Again in the 30s and 40s
8. Making Love and Making Waves
Further Reading
Index
Acknowledgements
