The Favourite: The Life of Sarah Churchill and the History Behind the Major Motion Picture

The scandalous true story of the duchess who became her beloved queen's blackmailer, published in a new and updated edition to coincide with the Oscar nominated film starring Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz.

Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, was as glamorous as she was controversial. Politically influential and independently powerful, she was an intimate, and then a blackmailer, of Queen Anne, accusing her of keeping lesbian favourites - including Sarah's own cousin Abigail Masham.

Ophelia Field's masterly biography brings Sarah Churchill's own voice, passionate and intelligent, back to life. Here is an unforgettable portrait of a woman who cared intensely about how we would remember her.

'An incredible story crackling with royal passion, envy, ambition and betrayal ... Field's account of the psychological power play between Queen Anne and her confidante is surely definitive. A tour de force' Lucy Worsley

Author: Ophelia Field
Publisher: George Weidenfeld & Nicholson
Published: 11/20/2018
Pages: 592
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 7.60h x 5.00w x 1.40d
ISBN13: 9781474605359
ISBN10: 1474605354
BISAC Categories:
- Biography & Autobiography | Royalty
- History | Women
- Biography & Autobiography | LGBTQ+

About the Author
Ophelia Field was born to American parents in Australia in 1971. She read English at Christ Church, Oxford, and gained a Master's in Development Studies at the London School of Economics. She subsequently worked as a policy analyst for several refugee and human rights organizations. Until 2008, she was Director of the Writers in Prison Programme of English PEN. Her first book, The Favourite, was published to wide acclaim in 2002, followed by The Kit-Kat Club in 2008.