Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi in Bloomington, MN

Immensely proud of her aristocratic Welsh ancestry, Hester Lynch was one of the most talented female authors of the long eighteenth century. A friend to the leading lights of the era, including Samuel Johnson, David Garrick, Joshua Reynolds, and more, she was the single salonnière with the wit and intellect to rival Johnson and (even more important) to be accepted as the glittering foil to Elizabeth Montagu, the “Queen of the Bluestockings.” The first biography to foreground the importance of Lynch’s Welsh heritage, this book traces the entirety of Lynch’s life and work, putting both in context of her era and re-establishing her as one of the most important cultural figures of her time.