Dancing to the Precipice: Lucie de la Tour du Pin and the French Revolution

Description

Lucie de la Tour du Pin was the Pepys of her generation- her diaries provide a vivid picture of Versailles, the French Revolution and Napoleon. This richly textured, highly enjoyable and evocative biography shows us an extraordinary woman in the midst of her extraordinary times. Lucie de la Tour du Pin was the Pepys of her generation. She witnessed, participated in, and wrote diaries detailing one of the most tumultuous periods of history. From life in the Court of Versailles, through the French Revolution to Napoleon's rule, Lucie survived extraordinary times with great spirit. She recorded people, politics and intrigue, alongside the intriguing minutia of everyday life- food, work, illness, children, manners and clothes. Caroline Moorehead's richly novelistic biography sets Lucy and her dairies in their wider context, illuminating a remarkable period of history. Dancing to the Precipice was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award 2009.

Caroline Moorehead is the biographer of Bertrand Russell, Freya Stark, Iris Origo and Martha Gellhorn. Well known for her work in human rights, she has published a history of the Red Cross and a book about refugees, Human Cargo and most recently, A Train in Winter. Caroline lives in London.

Utterly captivating... brings to life both Lucie and the glorious and terrible years through which she lived with a novelistic vividness, full of sights and sounds and flavours * Sunday Times * A scintillating biography...Moorehead succeeds triumphantly brings an assured grip on contemporary politics and a colourful sense of place * Daily Telegraph * A rich and satisfying book which not only adds to our appreciation of Madame de la Tour du Pin's story but brings the whole tumultuous period and its characters to life * Spectator * Lucie de la Tour de Pin has found a biographer worthy of her own storytelling skills. With a light-handed touch, Moorehead sets Lucie's story in its wider social and historical context, sketching the complicated political twists and turns in a way that makes them memorable without ever dumbing down -- Kathryn Hughes * Mail on Sunday * Never less than a gripping story of an extraordinary life * Literary Review *