"Daphne du Maurier has no equal." " Likely to rank as the author's best book." "This novel catches fire." She set men's hearts on fire and scandalized a country Master storyteller Daphne du Maurier evokes the rise and fall of one of her most unforgettable characters. An ambitious, stunning, and seductive young woman, Mary Anne finds the single most rewarding way to rise above her miserable cockney world: she will become the mistress to a royal duke. In doing so, she provokes a scandal that rocks Regency England. Mary Anne glitters with sex, scandal, corruption, and the privileged world of high society. Based on the true story of one of du Maurier's own distant relatives, Mary Anne's love of money and the men who spend it embroil her in risks that threaten her very existence.