{"product_id":"9780008126551_the-scapegoat-the-brilliant-brief-life-of-the-duke-of-buckingham","title":"The Scapegoat: The Brilliant Brief Life of the Duke of Buckingham","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e*PLUTARCH AWARD FOR THE BEST BIOGRAPHY OF 2024*\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e*SHORTLISTED FOR THE DUFF COOPER PRIZE*\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘\u003cstrong\u003eSUBLIME\u003c\/strong\u003e’\u003cstrong\u003e A \u003cem\u003eNEW STATESMAN\u003c\/em\u003e BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘\u003cstrong\u003eSTUNNINGLY GOOD\u003c\/strong\u003e’\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e THE TIMES\u003c\/em\u003e BEST HISTORY BOOKS 2024\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘\u003cstrong\u003eCOMPULSIVE\u003c\/strong\u003e’\u003cstrong\u003e A \u003cem\u003ePROSPECT \u003c\/em\u003eBOOK OF THE YEAR 2024\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘BRILLIANT’ A \u003cem\u003eSPECTATOR \u003c\/em\u003eBOOK OF THE YEAR 2024\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize, an extraordinary story of the meteoric rise and fall of George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘A delicious, grippingly paced tale of rogues, riotous sex, regicide and realpolitik’\u003cstrong\u003e \u003cem\u003eINDEPENDENT \u003c\/em\u003eBEST BOOKS FOR CHRISTMAS\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘This is the page-turner that Buckingham’s short, racy life deserves’\u003cstrong\u003e \u003cem\u003eDAILY TELEGRAPH\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘Vivid, erudite and sympathetic …\u003cem\u003e The Scapegoat\u003c\/em\u003e shows that [Hughes-Hallett’s] eye for the seamy realities of an extraordinary life is as sharp as ever’ \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eTHE TIMES\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘Lord Buckingham rockets off the page of this gloriously epic, seductively detailed biography’ \u003cstrong\u003eOLIVIA LAING\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs King James I’s favourite, Buckingham was also his confidant, gatekeeper, right-hand man and lover. When Charles I succeeded his father, he was similarly enthralled and made Buckingham his best friend and mentor. A dazzling figure on horseback and a skilful player of the political game, Buckingham rapidly transformed the influence his beauty gave him into immense wealth and power. He became one of the most flamboyant and enigmatic Englishmen at the heart of seventeenth-century royal and political life.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith a novelist’s touch, Lucy Hughes-Hallett transports us into a courtly world of masques and dancing, exquisite clothes, the art of Rubens and Van Dyck, gender-fluidity, same-sex desire and appallingly rudimentary medicine. Witch hunts coexisted with Francis Bacon’s empiricism and public opinion was becoming a political force. Falling from grace spectacularly, Buckingham came to represent everything that was wrong with the country.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom kidnappings and murder plots to men weeping in Parliament over civil liberties, \u003cem\u003eThe Scapegoat\u003c\/em\u003e navigates love, war-fever and pacifism in a society on the brink of cataclysmic change. In this immersive and authoritative account, Hughes-Hallett summons an era that still resonates today.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e-\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘Written with such verve and invention … Fascinating book’ \u003cstrong\u003eTOM SUTCLIFFE, BBC RADIO 4's \u003cem\u003eFRONT ROW\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'\u003cem\u003eThe Scapegoat\u003c\/em\u003e brilliantly dramatises the complex and glittering Duke of Buckingham and the political and sexual intrigue of the court of James I. Hughes-Hallett combines the instincts and talents of a novelist with a historian's vivid sense of period and social change’ \u003cstrong\u003eCOLM TÓIBÍN\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘A flamboyant character, an epic rise and tragic fall, brought to life with intelligence, tenderness and profound scholarship’ \u003cstrong\u003eADAM ZAMOYSKI\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘Buckingham’s rise and fall is as old as Tiberius’ love for Sejanus and as contemporary as a celeb crash-and-burn. Hughes-Hallett is a matchless historian with an unfailing eye for the revealing detail’ \u003cstrong\u003eSUE PRIDEAUX\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘A true Jacobean drama, except bloodier and sexier. Lucy Hughes-Hallett writes with gusto and insight’\u003cstrong\u003e PAUL THEROUX\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘Compulsively readable and elegantly written … [Lucy Hughes-Hallett] has brought Buckingham gloriously alive’ \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eFINANCIAL TIMES\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘Crisp and vivid … The story is a tragic one, no less so for being told here with verve, erudition and empathy’ \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eNEW STATESMAN\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘Richly multilayered … Hughes-Hallett proves herself alive to the nuances of gender and sexuality in the early seventeenth century…refreshingly light and contemporary, while at the same time suited to the seventeenth century’ \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eTLS\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘This is an absorbing, even thrilling journey through the dark and tangled networks of Stuart England … outstanding’\u003cstrong\u003e DIANE PURKISS\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Lucy Hughes-Hallett","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46898374410389,"sku":"9780008126551","price":36.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0484\/3175\/9509\/files\/9780008126551_88fd6ba1-1db8-48c5-927f-03f40ab2e2bf.jpg?v=1776888193","url":"https:\/\/harpercollins.com.au\/products\/9780008126551_the-scapegoat-the-brilliant-brief-life-of-the-duke-of-buckingham","provider":"HarperCollins AU","version":"1.0","type":"link"}