Dancing to the Precipice by Caroline Moorehead

Dancing to the Precipice by Caroline Moorehead

"[A] remarkable biography....Moorehead deftly wields periods detail...to tell the story of a captivating woman who kept her sense of self amid the vicissitudes of politics."

From acclaimed biographer Caroline Moorhead comes Dancing to the Precipice, a sweeping chronicle of the remarkable life of Lucie de la Tour du Pin--"an astute, thoroughly engaging biography of a formidable woman" (Boston Globe) who, over the span of some 80 years, was witness to, and often a participant in the major social upheavals of eighteenth-century French history.

This definitive French Revolution biography brings a turbulent era to life through the eyes of one of its most resilient observers, chronicling:

• Life at Versailles: An insider's account of the glittering, decadent, and treacherous court of Louis XVI in the final years before the fall of the French monarchy.
• Surviving the Terror: A harrowing narrative of how Lucie navigated the most dangerous days of the French Revolution, witnessing friends and family arrested and sent to the guillotine.
• Escape to America: The remarkable story of an aristocratic family building a new life as farmers in upstate New York, grappling with a rugged landscape and new democratic ideals.
• The Bourbon Restoration: A firsthand perspective on the return of the French kings and the complex social landscape of post-Napoleonic Paris, including friendships with figures like Talleyrand and the Duke of Wellington.

Caroline Moorehead is Bertrand Russell's, Freya Stark's, Iris Origo's, and Martha Gellhorn's biographer. She is well-known for her work in human rights, having written a history of the Red Cross as well as Human Cargo, an acclaimed book about refugees. Dancing to the Precipice, a biography of Lucie de la Tour du Pin, was her previous work. She splits her time between London and Italy.