Life Mask

The Honourable Mrs. Damer is a young widow of eccentric tastes the only female sculptor of her time. The Earl of Derby inventor of the horse race that bears his name is the richest man in the House of Lordsand the ugliest. Miss Eliza Farren born a nobody now reigns as the Queen of Comedy at Drury Lane Theatre a time of looming war and terrorism of glittering spectacle and financial disasters the wealthy liberals of the Whig Party work to topple a tyrannical prime minister and a lunatic king. Their marriages and friendships stretch or break; political liaisons prove as dangerous as erotic ones. Will Eliza Farren ever gain entry to that elite circle that calls itself the World? Can Lord Derbys pride endure public mockery of his long unconsummated courtship of the actress? And how is Anne Damer ever to silence the whispers of Sapphism that haunt her? Let the games begin . . .