Defiance

March 27, 2017
Anne Barnard knew everybody worth knowing in late-18th-century England, turned down a literal dozen marriage proposals, and wed for love in her early 40s after having become a very wealthy woman with the help of former suitors. She lived for a time in South Africa; adopted, raised, and provided for her husband’s biracial daughter; wrote a famous ballad beloved of Walter Scott; painted; and became an accomplished hostess. Her full and compelling life leaves the biographer with a puzzle: how to compress a story that could easily fill three volumes into a single book. Taylor (Commander: The Life and Exploits of Britain’s Greatest Frigate Captain) solves this conundrum admirably, focusing on a chronological retelling of the highlights of Barnard’s life. His work is enriched by his access to private unpublished source material. Taylor doesn’t fail to entertain, and his book is a fine, easily readable introduction to Barnard that does the work of leaving readers wanting more—more on navigating the difficulties of raising a biracial child in 19th-century London, more on Barnard’s relationship with the Prince of Wales, more on her interiority. This is a page-turning introduction to a fascinating life. 8 color illus.

May 15, 2017
An exhaustive biography of a clever, convivial Regency woman who was "dangerously unconventional, a character too colourful for propriety."In an age of enlightenment, upheaval, and revolution, Lady Anne Lindsay (1750-1825) was a prolific letter writer and a dedicated chronicler of current events. Taylor (Commander: The Life and Exploits of Britain's Greatest Frigate Captain, 2012, etc.) sifted through mountains of material at her family's Scottish home, including her multivolume memoir. Anne charmed all who met her, and it's easy to see how, with her upbringing in Scotland amid one of Britain's greatest literary collections, the Bibliotheca Lindesiana. Her broad education was the product of that collection, as she and her sister read voraciously. She met the age's most eminent thinkers, including David Hume, Alison Cockburn, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Edmund Burke. After moving to London, she found intelligent stimulation greater even than Edinburgh but without the small-town constraints. She was labeled a coquette because she was unconventional, preferring to befriend men rather than marry them. Her letters and journals are detailed, if somewhat prolix, but they give a wonderful picture of her times. She met London's literati and politicians through her sister's husband, who was a banker and gambler--never a good mix. It was his short selling that brought down his bank and caused one of the biggest financial crises of the century. Of all the men who wooed her, William Windham and Henry Dundas, both destined for high office, played the largest parts. When she finally married Irishman Andrew Barnard, it was Dundas who found him a position at the new colony in South Africa. Their years there were idyllic until her husband's death, and she ably chronicled and drew the scenery and people. At the same time, she used her talents as a hostess to win over the defeated Dutch and to entertain passengers stopping on their way to India. An edifying, uncluttered, and enjoyable picture of life in Regency England.

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August 1, 2017

Taylor (Storm and Conquest) has crafted an intricate and cozy biography of Lady Anne Barnard (1750-1825) that illustrates the strength and vivacity that lit her from within. Barnard was an accomplished Scottish woman of letters who was both of her time and beyond it. Born Lady Anne Lindsay, she had many suitors and lovers but remained single until her 40s, vacillating often in her affections. In London, Barnard's gift of social intercourse allowed her to count many of the most influential men of the times among her circle, including the Prince Regent. It was considered a scandal when she married Andrew Barnard, a young officer with no title or wealth. She accompanied him to his post in South Africa, hiked mountains, reported expertly on the state of the colony to her political friends, and, after Andrew's death, adopted a daughter he had fathered by a slave. Infused with sections from her letters and an unpublished multivolume memoir, this work brings Lady Anne's own voice to life. VERDICT Taylor's book will appeal to biography and history lovers alike with its approachable style.--Stacy Shaw, Orange, CA

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2017
With access to his subject's extensive unpublished memoirs, captivating biographer Taylor (Commander, 2012) re-creates the fascinating life of an eighteenth-century woman who boldly defied societal strictures and expectations, carving out an exceptional life on her own revolutionary terms. Aristocratic beauty, author of the classic Scottish ballad Auld Robin Grey, landscape artist, and inveterate diarist, Lady Anne Barnard took many lovers before eventually marrying an unsuitable, by genteel society's standards, army officer several years her junior. Fiercely independent, she entertained literary, political, and social royalty; traveled widely; observed the French Revolution firsthand; lived in and chronicled life in South Africa for five years; and scandalously adopted her husband's biracial daughter, whom she slyly referred to as my protegee of a darker complexion. This sparkling portrait of a woman unapologetically ahead of her time also constitutes a valuable contribution to the scholarship of women's studies.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)