Elizabeth Kerri Mahon

Okay, this was a new one on me, the idea that Queen Elizabeth I might actually be a man.  I had actually never heard this rumor before until I watched The National Geographic Channel's special THE SECRETS OF THE VIRGIN QUEEN.  Guess what? There were no real secrets in this special, just a bunch of rehashed stuff about whether or not she and Dudley ever had a child, and why she never married.  The only new information (at least for me) was the story of the Bisley Boy. According to THE SECRETS OF THE VIRGIN QUEEN, Elizabeth (then a princess) had died aged 10 while staying at Berkeley Castle, in  Gloucestershire (the same castle where Edward II was murdered). Her minders, terrified of the retribution of her father, Henry VIII, made a substitution. A lookalike boy from the nearby village of Bisley was put in her place and sworn to secrecy. This legend 'explained' why Elizabeth never married or had children. In fact, the tale was apparently invented ...

The Winner of January's Giveaway is MommyTime! I will be emailing you in the next few days to get your address.  Thanks to everyone who entered!

EXIT THE ACTRESS Author:  Priya Parmar Publisher: Simon & Schuster, February 1, 2010 From the back cover:  While selling oranges in the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, sweet and sprightly Ellen "Nell" Gwyn impresses the theater’s proprietors with a wit and sparkle that belie her youth and poverty. She quickly earns a place in the company, narrowly avoiding the life of prostitution to which her sister has already succumbed. As her roles evolve from supporting to starring, the scope of her life broadens as well. Soon Ellen is dressed in the finest fashions, charming the theatrical, literary, and royal luminaries of Restoration England. Ellen grows up on the stage, experiencing first love and heartbreak and eventually becoming the mistress of Charles II. Despite his reputation as a libertine, Ellen wholly captures his heart—and he hers—but even the most powerful love isn’t enough to stave off the gossip and bitter court politics that accompany a royal romance. Telling the ...

This month starts a new feature on Scandalous Women, the Scoundrel of the Month. First up is the Scottish poet and champion shagger of Scotland, Robert Burns. Robert Burns is pretty much the patron saint of Scotland (along with St. Andrew and Sean Connery, professional Scotsman) or near enough. He's known by many names, Rabbie Burns, Scotland's favorite son, The Ploughman Poet amongst others. A poet and chick magnet (what is with women and poets?), Robert Burns was born on January 25, 1759 two miles south of Ayr, in Alloway, South Ayrshire Scotland, the eldest of 7 children. He grew up poor on a farm, and the manual labor left him with a premature stoop and a weakened constiution. Still he managed to get a decent education from his father who was self-educated and well read.  Young Robert learned history, reading, writing, and geography, when he managed to attend school, he added Latin, Frenchand mathematics to his knowledge. By the age of 15, his formal schooling was over, ...

"If ever anyone writes the story of my life, it should be called The Last Bonaparte, for I am the last.  My cousins of the Imperial line are only Napoleons." - Marie Bonaparte Wife, mother, Royal Princess, great-great niece of Napoleon Bonaparte, friend and rescuer of Sigmund Freud, and psychoanalyst. These are just some of the roles that Marie Bonaparte (1882-1962) played during her eighty-years on the planet.  She was also passionate, glamorous, reckless, intelligent and wealthy. Her enthusiasms in life were for sex, her chow dogs, and Sigmund Freud. Marie Bonaparte was the daughter of Prince Roland Bonaparte and Marie-Felix Blanc.  Prince Roland was the grandson of Napoleon's younger brother Lucien, who was the most rebellious of the brothers Bonaparte.  While Jerome fell in line with Napoleon's wishes, divorcing Betsy Patterson and marrying Princess Catherine of Wurtemberg, Lucien refused to put aside either of his wives.  Consequently, he was disinherited...

Scandalous Women is pleased to be giving away a copy of THE MISTRESS OF NOTHING by Kate Pullinger. Winner of The Governor General's Literary Award, this is the American debut of an award-winning novel about a lady’s maid’s awakening as she journeys from the confines of Victorian England to the uncharted far reaches of Egypt’s Nile Valley When Lady Duff Gordon, paragon of London society, departs for the hot, dry climate of Egypt to seek relief from her debilitating tuberculosis, her lady’s maid, Sally, doesn’t hesitate to leave the only world she has known in order to remain at her mistress’s side. As Sally gets farther and farther from home, she experiences freedoms she has never known—forgoing corsets and wearing native dress, learning Arabic, and having her first taste of romance. But freedom is a luxury that a lady’s maid can ill afford, and when Sally’s newfound passion for life causes her to forget what she is entitled to, she is brutally reminded she is mistress of nothi...

The Queen of Last Hopes: The Story of Margaret of Anjou Author: Susan Higginbotham Sourcebooks Landmark, January 1, 2011 Highly Recommended From the back cover: Margaret of Anjou, queen of England, cannot give up on her husband-even when he slips into insanity. And as mother to the House of Lancaster's last hope, she cannot give up on her son-even when England turns against them. This gripping tale of a queen forced to stand strong in the face of overwhelming odds is at its heart a tender tale of love. Award-winning author Susan Higginbotham will once again ask readers to question everything they know about right and wrong, compassion and hope, duty to one's country and the desire of one's own heart. My thoughts:  I have a confession to make, I am a Plantagenetaholic.  I will basically read any novel that is set starting with Henry II all the way to Richard III (I'm also a Ricardian as well).  From the moment, that I first saw A Lion in Winter, through Jean P...

Tonight the NYPL will be celeberating the 100th birthday of Gypsy Rose Lee and yours truly will be there. GYPSY ROSE LEE: An American Icon Laid Bare A Centennial Celebration with Karen Abbott, Jo "Boobs" Weldon, Miss Tickle and others Saturday, Januray 8, 2011 at 7:00 PM in the Celeste Bartos Forum "On January 8, 2011, the world's most famous burlesque performer turns 100 years old. Join LIVE from the NYPL for a centennial celebration of the birth of Gypsy Rose Lee: novelist, playwright, New Yorker essayist, fashion icon, actress, activist, member of New York’s literati, world-famous “ecdysiast" and subject of one of the best-loved musicals in American history. Be amused and appalled by dramatic readings from never-before-published letters in Gypsy’s archives, housed in the New York Public Library. Special guests include Jo "Boobs" Weldon (author of The Burlesque Handbook and Headmistress of The New York School of Burlesque) who will perform a burl...

Hearts Divided (1936) Warner Bros. Studios Director: Frank Borzage Screenplay by: Laird Doyle & Casey Robinson from the play "Glorious Betsy" by Rida Johnson Young Cast: Marion Davies as Elizabeth Patterson Dick Powell as Captain Jerome Bonaparte Charles Ruggles as Senator Henry Ruggles Claude Rains as Napoleon Bonaparte Edward Everett Horton as Senator John Hathaway Arthur Treacher as Sir Harry Henry Stephenson as Charles Patterson Clara Blandick as Aunt Ellen Patterson John Larkin as Isham Walter Kingsford as Monsieur Pichon Etienne Girardot as Monsieur Du Fresne Halliwell Hobbes as Cambaceres George Irving as President Thomas Jefferson Beulah Bondi as Madame Letizia Bonaparte Synopsis:  Napoleon (Claude Rains) needs money in order to continue his quest for world domination in Europe so he wants 20 million dollars for the Louisiana Territory in the United States. To help the negotiations, he sends his brother, Jerome (Dick Powell), to the U.S. on a...

Scandalous Women is pleased to welcome Carol K. Carr, author of the fabulous new series from Berkley Prime Crime, the India Black Espionage mysteries. When Carol contacted me and told me that she had a new mystery series set during the Victorian era featuring a madam as the main character coming out, she didn't have to ask twice if I wanted to read it. Here is a little taste from the back cover: When Sir Archibald Latham of the War Office dies from a heart attack while visiting her brothel, Madam India Black is unexpectedly thrust into a deadly game between Russian and British agents who are seeking the military secrets Latham carried. Blackmailed into recovering the missing documents by the British spy known as French, India finds herself dodging Russian agents—and the attraction she starts to feel for her handsome conspirator. I was intrigued from the very first page. India is a fascinating, mysterious, sarcastic, clever, and stubborn character. The book takes the read...

Happy New Year everyone!  This month's book of the month is THE RESURRECTION OF THE ROMANOVS by Greg King & Penny Wilson.  I've been waiting for this book for a long time. Since childhood, I've been fascinated with the story of Anastasia and Anna Anderson.  Was she really Anastasia and if she wasn't how did she acquire all her knowledge of court life, things that only the real Anastasia would know.  This book aims to answer all my questiions. From the inside cover:  The truth of the enduring mystery of Anastasia's fate-and the life of her most convincing impostor The passage of more than ninety years and the publication of hundreds of books in dozens of languages has not extinguished an enduring interest in the mysteries surrounding the 1918 execution of the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II and his family. The Resurrection of the Romanovs draws on a wealth of new information from previously unpublished materials and unexplored sources to probe the most endur...