Description

‘Puts Cavendish back into the literary history books where she belongs’ Kate Mosse

‘Scholarly, articulate, and never less than fascinating’ Alice Loxton

‘Well-written, well-researched, interesting and peppy.’ Observer

A biography of the remarkable, and in her time scandalous, seventeenth-century writer Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle.

‘My ambition is not only to be Empress, but Authoress of a whole world.’

Margaret Cavendish, then Lucas, was born in 1623 to a wealthy family. In 1644, as England descended into civil war, she joined the court of the formidable Queen Henrietta Maria at Oxford, before following the court into exile in France. It was there that she met her much older lifelong partner, William Cavendish, Marquess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Cavendish was a revolutionary writer. At a time when literature was dominated by men, she wrote passionately on gender, science and philosophy, defied convention by publishing under her own name, and advocated for women in work that predates the feminist movement. In 1666, she published The Blazing World, a brilliant, trail-blazing proto-novel thought to be one of the earliest works of science fiction. But her legacy divides opinion. And history has largely forgotten her.

In Pure Wit, Francesca Peacock shines a spotlight on the fascinating, pioneering, yet often complex and controversial life of Margaret Cavendish.

Publisher Review

It’s a gripping read, wonderfully researched and puts Cavendish back into the literary history books where she belongs. I loved it. * Kate Mosse * Fascinating * William Boyd * Well-written, well-researched, interesting and peppy. * The Observer * 5 STARS… Margaret Cavendish was a woman out of time. This blazing biography does her proud * The Telegraph * [An] erudite and entertaining book * The Spectator * Scholarly, articulate, and never less than fascinating, this is a sensational debut. * Alice Loxton * [A] sparky celebration of a remarkable woman * Financial Times * Pure Wit is thorough and scholarly * Literary Review * A stellar debut. Francesca Peacock is as bold, bright and witty as her subject. Margaret Cavendish sears through every page and so does her blazing world. * Jessie Childs * This is historical biography as it should be written: intelligent and nuanced, witty and thoroughly riveting. * Lucasta Miller * A fascinating book on a fascinating woman, who was not the “crazy duchess” of hostile legend, but a daring feminist pioneer. * Penelope Corfield * Francesca Peacock adroitly recounts Cavendish’s ordeals as a monarchist under Cromwell, her years in exile in Paris, her supportive marriage, her ennoblement and fame. * New Statesman * [Peacock’s] enjoyable book is enriched by accounts of other women who lived remarkably in those remarkable times. * The Times * Perceptive and nuanced. A blazing account of a blazing woman. * Holly Kyte *