The Mistress: Histories, Myths and Interpretations of the Other Woman

by Victoria Griffin

As long as there is marriage, there will also be the Mistress. Why then, does our society still behave as if marital infidelity were some unfathomable aberration?

Mythology is rich with mistresses-- both divine and mortal--some who have played their roles cunningly and to perfection, and some who have destroyed themselves and all around them. Famous mistresses have not only graced literature but have written it. Courtesans have been a feature of royal courts throughout history. And, whether or not we admit it, or feign nave ignorance, mistresses are women we know, here and now.

Victoria Griffin, herself a mistress, brings her steady yet startling focus on the mistresses in history and culture, past and from Camille Claudel to Monica Lewinsky, from Madame de Pompadour to Simone de Beauvoir, from George Eliot to Pamela Harriman. It is a subject as rich and diverse as history itself, alive with memorable characters. The Mistress will provoke and delight in equal measure.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

320 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1999

Reviews

[Tashi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love this book. So far, it's the only book on Mistresses I've ever read that paints a positive/neutral portrait of the women who became mistresses. I love the intertwining of historical information with the author's own experience. This book made me feel heard and understood, as someone who's had a very positive experience of being a mistress.

[Sue Corbett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting facts.

[Gill Mclauchlan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rather disappointing.