Ladies of the Grand Tour: British Women in Pursuit of Enlightenment and Adventure in Eighteenth-Century Europe

I am delighted to be able to "live" 18th century travel through the eyes of the woman that Dolan brings to life. I am especially glad not to be travelling like they did - airport security gates are a much aggravation as I can take. Dolan takes his topic broadly. The book is not just a recounting of travel incidents -- it spends considerable time on the significance of being abroad, particularly for those women who spend time in France during the Revolution, eventually fleeing as it turned into the Terror. He conveys a good sense of the differences between that time and this, when views and videos of faraway places are immediately and widely available. This book is particularly set apart by Dolan's sensitive examination of the women's status in their society. I was particularly touched by his discussion of the double-bind that made "frivolous" if they concentrated on domestic and personal matters, but "unwomanly and unnatural" if they attempted to broaden their horizons. I was aware that women were not usually well-educated in this era, but surprised to learn of the panic engendered if they attempted self-education. An excellent book for those interested in this era, in travel, or in the historical situation of women.

Brian Dolan has created a masterpiece of historical narrative, highlighting the trials and tribulations of being an 18th Century British woman with aspirations to anything OTHER than domesticity. The characters he, in many cases, rescues from obscurity are brought to brilliant life through their own words, and immediately upon finishing this book (which I read during a plane flight from Europe to California) I wanted to run out and read all I could find on Mary and Agnes Berry, Elizabeth Carter, Lady Webster, Cornelia Knight, Elizabeth Montagu, and especially the exploits of Helen Williams and Mary Wollstencraft during the French Revolution. I admire Mr. Dolan's blending of historic documents, correspondence and a spritely, slightly unobjective narrative to create a work of nonfiction that reads with the ease of a novel. I unreservedly recommend this to anyone who is a fan of the Georgian period or of the works for Katie Hickman or Venetia Murray.

Life in the eighteenth century for women was a strange mixture of education, enlightenment and restriction. The fact that some could travel so freely seems an anomaly given their general position in society legally - yet travel many did - and write about - they did too. Dolan has used mostly diaries and letters of female travellers for this large and well-researched book.There is a lot of material which sheds new light (for me anyway) on the life of women travelling during this time but he tends to use the diaries and letters of those women who are already very well written about simply because there is such a wealth of material about them so Lady Bessborough, Lady Holland, Mary Montagu, Mary Wollstonecraft and Marianna Starke (to name the main ones) dominate the book. Perhaps there just isn't the same wealth of material about travel undiscovered and so the main writers are returned to. These women have certainly been used to define this age.The advantage of this book is it really does illustrate (and very well) the life of the traveller, the difficulties and how they travelled etc - without getting caught up in all the other issues that litter their diaries/letters - so you have travel unadulterated. He has also split the book up into nine topical chapters including travel of Education and Improvement, Fashionable Society and Foreign Affairs - and my favourite chapter - Sea Breezes and Sanity.There are also a number of good illustrations used - although I rather question some of the captions used - For instance using Vermeer's picture "Woman in Blue" - a picture of a woman reading a letter - to caption it "A woman absorbed in a letter from an absent lover..." seems to be both pushing the pathos and the aesthetic art interpretation a bit far.... couldn't it just as easily have been a note from the grocer? ...or her sister in the next town....or her mother?Anyway - those niggles aside I think this is a great book to add depth to a library of anyone who is interested in this period.

As someone who is passionate about the 18th century France, I purchased Mr. Dolan's book with great excitement and many anticipations. I am happy to say, it was a purchase well made. Ladies of the Grand Tour is an interesting look into the minds and hearts of European Women living during a tulmultuous times. Mr. Dolan deftly weaves contrasting views on society (ex: Burke and Wollstonecraft sound off opposing opinions about my idol, Marie Antoinette) making for a well-balanced read.Though I have never been a huge fan of the unctuous Wollstonecraft, I found her quotes in this book illuminating and thought-provoking. Christopher Hibbert published a wonderful book titled THE GRAND TOUR which reads like an 18th Century Tour Book of several of the finest cities in Europe. As fantastic as that book is, it does not deliver the human drama, the emotions of the female travelers, that Dolan's masterpiece offers.Bravo!Leah Marie Brown,Author of Willing Captive