The Dead Duke, His Secret Wife, and the Missing Corpse: An Extraordinary Edwardian Case of Deception and Intrigue [Paperback]

At the close of the Victorian era, as now, privacy was power. The extraordinarilywealthy 5th Duke of Portland had a mania for it, hiding in his carriageand building tunnels between buildings to avoid being seen. In 1897,an elderly widow asked the court to exhume the grave of her late father-in-law, T. C.Druce, under the suspicion that hed led a double life as the 5th Duke. The eccentricduke, Anna Maria contended, had faked his death as Druce, and her son should inheritthe Portland millions. Revealing a dark underbelly of Victorian society, Piu MarieEatwell evokes an era when the rise of sensationalist media blurred every fact into fictionand when family secrets and fluid identities pushed class anxieties to new heights.A A riveting true crime from yesteryear. Too good a book to spoil. A reminder that no matter what stories have captured popular tastes right now¬hing quite takes your breath away like a Novemberish tale that turns out to be real. A juicy narrative history packed with revelations about unsavory goings-on among the upper classes in late Victorian England. A superb unraveling of a sensational mysteryand an absolutely gripping read. A lively account of the light shone on the lies, deceit and hypocrisy of Victorian society.