The Devil Kissed Her: The Story of Mary Lamb

The Devil Kissed Her: The Story of Mary Lamb

by KathyWatson (Author)

Synopsis

At the age of thirty one, Mary Lamb stabbed her mother to death. Amazingly she wasn't imprisoned but was instead released into the care of her younger brother Charles. Brother and sister were inseparable for nearly forty years. They wrote and holidayed together and were famed for their literary salon, frequented by the likes of Coleridge, Wordsworth, Hazlitt and Godwin. But the Lambs' popularity existed in the shadow of Mary's recurring bouts of illness. Centuries before manic depression was to be diagnosed, Mary's collapses took her into an asylum for several months of the year. Kathy Watson's aim has been to find the real Mary Lamb: to reconcile the modest, motherly lady who wrote "Tales from Shakespeare" with the murderess, the 'lunatic' with the admired hostess. Above all Watson memorably examines a fascinating brother-sister relationship. Superbly researched, beautifully told, "The Devil Kissed Her" is a vivid and intimate portrait of one of literature's most tragically romantic figures.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 256
Edition: First Edition
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published: 02 Aug 2004

ISBN 10: 0747571090
ISBN 13: 9780747571094
Book Overview: Coincides with Peter Ackroyd's new novel about Charles and Mary Lamb, The Lambs of London: publicity guaranteed The first solo biography of Mary Lamb For fans of popular history like Georgina, Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman and Aristocrats by Stella Tillyard

Media Reviews
'Mary Lamb lived with demons and nightmares all her life. Yet the stories she left behind have filled children's imaginations. Now it is time for Mary's own dark story to be told. Fortunately, in Kathy Watson she has a master biographer...a wonderful, moving and vivid book.' Amanda Foreman Praise for The Crossing: 'A haunting biography.' Mail on Sunday 'An affectionate,acutely observed life of Webb.' Sunday Times
Author Bio
The daughter of a Scottish mother and a Jamaican father, Kathy Watson was brought up in Devon. After graduating from Oxford University, she worked for the BBC and then as a journalist and editor in national women's magazines. Her first book, The Crossing,a biography of Captain Webb, was published in 2000. She is currently a freelance journalist and lives in London with her husband and two small children.