Historical writer and novelist Stella Tillyard gives a fascinating insight into the 18th century through the lives of the four Lennox sisters, the great-grandchildren of Charles II.  Scandal and tragedy were never far from the sisters’ lives. Caroline’s son, Charles James Fox, was the most celebrated and dangerous politician of his day; Louisa and Emily married into grand Irish families and were caught up in a deepening economic and political crisis; and Sarah left her husband for another man. Tillyard draws on their legacy of letters, diaries and pictures to draw both a fascinating and engrossing picture of their lives but also to paint a wider picture of the times. Events include the failure of the pyrotechnics at the first performance of Handel’s Fireworks Music, and contemporary reaction to the madness of King George III.

Tillyard has been described by Simon Schama as ‘dazzling…a phenomenally gifted writer’. Her books include A Royal Affair: George III and his Troublesome Siblings and the novel, Tides of War, longlisted for the 2012 Orange Prize for Fiction.

Tillyard’s talk is presented by the Folio Society and marks the publication of Aristocrats in a Folio Society edition.