Author: du Maurier, Daphne

Classic fiction (pre c 1945)

Published on 24 July 2025 by Little, Brown Book Group (Virago Press Ltd) in the United Kingdom as part of 'the Virago Modern Classics' series.

Paperback | 400 pages
127 x 198 x 27 | 318g

'This novel catches fire' NEW YORK TIMESDISCOVER THIS THRILLING STORY OF DESIRE AND AMBITION FROM THE AUTHOR OF REBECCAShe set men's hearts on fire and scandalized a country. In Regency London, the only way for a woman to succeed is to beat men at their own game. So when Mary Anne Clarke seeks an escape from her squalid surroundings in Bowling Inn Alley, she ventures first into the scurrilous world of the pamphleteers. Her personal charms are such, however, before long she is noticed by the Duke of York.

With her taste for luxury and power, Mary Anne, now a royal mistress, must aim higher. Her lofty connections allow her to establish a thriving trade in military commissions, provoking a scandal that rocks the government and brings personal disgrace.

A vivid portrait of overweening ambition, Mary Anne is set during the Napoleonic Wars and based on the life of du Maurier's own great-great-grandmother.

'She wrote exciting plots, she was highly skilled at arousing suspense' GUARDIAN'With unfailing du Maurier skill, the author has coupled family interest with dramatic sense' ELIZABETH BOWEN