Becoming Lola

By: Harriet Steel

Born in 1821 into modest circumstances, at the age of sixteen Eliza Gilbert, later known as Lola Montez, ruined herself in the eyes of polite society when to avoid an abhorrent arranged marriage she ran away with one of her mother's admirers.

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Book Description

Born in 1821 into modest circumstances, at the age of sixteen Eliza Gilbert, later known as Lola Montez, ruined herself in the eyes of polite society when to avoid an abhorrent arranged marriage she ran away with one of her mother's admirers. He married her, but she abandoned any chance of forgiveness when she refused to be trapped in an unhappy union and left him.

Most women would have vanished into increasingly desperate obscurity, but Eliza was no ordinary woman. Gifted with beauty, intelligence and sheer grit, she rose to become, for decades, the most famous woman in the world.

The story of how she did it ranges from the exotic lands of India to the rough-and-ready Australian Outback, taking in the glittering courts of Europe, where Lola was for a time the mistress of the King of Bavaria; the razzmatazz of New York's Broadway and the California goldfields on the way. This true story of a remarkable woman will fascinate all those who love to discover history's less traveled roads.

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