Joanne Hayle

Lord Byron and Lady Caroline Lamb Joanne Hayle

The poet Lord Byron became a star overnight, he was the toast of Regency society, adored by women who clamoured to meet him. When he met the married Lady Caroline Lamb, the niece of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, in 1812 scandalous passions were ignited. Regency England bore witness to their public displays of indifference and criticism while privately Byron and Caro carried out an intense affair that led to talk of an elopement. After Lord Byron ended their relationship, Lady Caroline Lamb's obessive behaviour, her improbable but public suicide attempt, substance abuse and questions about her sanity marked the rest of her life. She wrote as passionately as she felt, Glenarvon, was a fictional and melodramatic account of her relationship with the infamous Lord Byron. He wrote about and to her in his poems after his passions cooled, sometimes using hateful comments. Byron went on to marry and have several more lovers, male and female, scandal followed him wherever he went. So, was Lord Byron mad, bad and dangerous to know and when did Caroline coin this phrase? How did Caroline's husband, William Lamb, later Lord Melbourne, Queen Victoria's first Prime Minister, react to such a public embarrassment? Were the rumours about Byron's passions true? Find out in this book about one of the most passionate affairs in English history and the resulting public and literary outbursts between two fiery and larger than life figures. Their compelling story could have been written in a regency romance novel.