The Grit in the Pearl cover art

The Grit in the Pearl

The Scandalous Life of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll

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The Grit in the Pearl

By: Lyndsy Spence
Narrated by: Lucy Rayner
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About this listen

Margaret, Duchess of Argyll (1912-1993) was an international celebrity in her youth, adored and observed by millions. But in 1963, the year of the Profumo Affair, the 11th Duke of Argyll shocked the country when he alleged that his adulterous wife had slept with over 80 men behind his back. He produced, as his evidence, a set of sexually explicit Polaroid photographs and explosive love letters. The duke won a divorce, but this had a dramatic effect on Margaret's life. On the verge of financial destitution, she fell from grace and was abandoned by most of her friends prior to her death in a nursing home in Pimlico in 1993.

Lyndsy Spence tells a tragic story of the life and downfall of this fascinatingly complex woman, and shows how she fell victim to a cruel husband, harsh social mores, and an unforgiving class. It uses new sources, including taped conversations, an unexpurgated transcript of her divorce trial, interviews, and letters. The Grit in the Pearl is a meticulously researched and powerful biography, which acts as a potent lens on various themes in the last century: fame, privacy, the media, sex, power, and relationships between classes.

©2019 Lyndsy Spence (P)2019 Tantor Entertainment & Celebrities Historical Politicians Politics & Activism Royalty Women Celebrity Marriage Biography Funny

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All stars
Most relevant  
The narrator was awful. Far too much inflection and pace (short sentences) was a massive distraction. Sing song and not naturally voiced - I did wonder if this voice was computer generated.

Great story - awful narration

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the narrator has an interesting intonation with unique emphasis in last word in a sentence. It reminds me of Matt Berry in the TV series 'Toast of London " LOL.

Toast of London

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An interesting read but hard to get over the very strange narration. After a while I could ignore it but it certainly detracted from the story

Strange narration

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Interesting life story of a very charismatic women. Had me hooked from the start, narration could have been better.

Had me hooked

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the delivery of this book completely spoilt my experience whilst Rayner had dulcet tones her performance was dreadful... her breathing stops just did not work and spoilt the flow of the story... it nearly killed me to listen to it... I almost abandoned by it five minutes in... content goodish but no meant on the bones... no in-depth anything... I feel it lacked real research....

affected delivery!!! groan.

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The narrator, as mentioned by other reviewers, has a really effected, breathy voice with really strange inflections. The only way I got through listening was imagining it was being narrated by Matt Berry as Toast of London and then it amused me enough to continue…

Fabulous and interesting story…

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I didn’t know anything about this woman and this biography had me entranced. The narrator was well measured and delivered the content with eloquent detail.

A fascinating woman!

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Interesting story of a dramatic life spoilt by a stilted strange narration, listened to the end but the listen was not one of my favourite listens .

Strange narration

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Duchess of argyle . What a woman. Took no crap from no man. And always seemed to be unlucky in love. Loved this.

Margaret

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Awful narration .. felt I would enjoy the book much more with another narrator .. pity because the story was very interesting.

Feeeling let down

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