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Title: Sarah Duchess of Marlborough by David Green ISBN: 0-684-12467-X Publisher: Simon Schuster Trade Format: Paperback

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Average Customer Rating: 4 (1 review)

Rating: 4
Summary: General's Wife, Queen's Mistress
Comment: Whenever the history books have to describe the reign of Queen Anne in one paragraph or less, the name of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough invariably pops up, together with a coy reference to Anne's "friendship" with Sarah, or Sarah's "influence" with Anne.

The facts are these: Sarah Churchill, nee Jennings, was the wife of the renowned Captain-General John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough and de facto prime minister of England during the Wars of the Spanish Succesion (not to mention umpteenth great-grandfather to Sir Winston.) At SOME point during the Spanish war, she and Anne had a huge falling out, following which Marlborough was stripped of his post and forced into early retirement at his new estate, Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire.

Where this biography excels is in chronicling the palace life of Sarah, who lived most of her childhood in the royal residences as a playmate and confidante of Princess (later to be Queen) Anne. Green had unfettered access to the Blenheim Palace archives and to Sarah's private correspondence and diaries. Following her split with Anne, and Marlborough's death, he steers us through Sarah's later life, when she became eccentric, obstreporous and highly litigious. Sarah, a voluminious writer, is omnipresent, and her intelligence and sarcastic wit still sparkle as we read her thoughts (and jibes).

The big lingering mystery that this book prefers not to address is Sarah's own sexuality. It's clear - abundantly, painfully, tragically so - that Anne's "passion" for Sarah was much more than platonic. But whether Sarah reciprocated these feelings, or merely played on them in order to win preferment for herself and her husband, is a question Green doesn't address. We are left to draw our own conclusions - but perhaps there's nothing wrong with that.