Devonshire House in London became the unofficial headquarters of the Whig party; it also became a den of sexual misconduct, reckless gambling and hard drinking. "She would," writes Foreman, "go to any lengths to please her parents, and that included thinking herself in love with a man she hardly knew."Though the marriage was not a happy one - the "boring and gauche" Duke seems to have preferred the company of mistresses to that of his young wife - Georgiana made the most of her husband's wealth and high position in society to satisfy her passion for politics and pleasure. As the undisputed queen of fashionable society and the hostess of one of 18th-century England's most influential political salons, she was constantly in the public eye. But does she deserve a 400-page biography? Born at Althorp in 1757, the daughter of the fantastically rich John Spencer (later the first Earl Spencer, the possessor of 100,000 acres and an income of pounds 30,000 a year), Georgiana was 17 when she married the fifth Duke of Devonshire, at 24 the most eligible bachelor in the kingdom. GEORGIANA: Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman HarperCollins pounds 19.99 EVEN in an age not noted for its high moral tone, the beautiful Duchess of Devonshire was notorious for her heavy drinking, ruinous gambling and disastrous love affairs. It takes time, maybe 100, 200 years, perhaps ..." he beams, "but they will accept it." And once again, he looks just like a priest.`The Fifth Mountain' is published by HarperCollins at pounds 12.99. What do they know?"They know that the church is a living body, that things are changing, that some people have to dare to talk about certain subjects, like I do about the feminine face of God, for example And rebirth.
And I do believe in it."Well, that sort of talk, I say, won't get him an invitation to dine at the Vatican, will it?"Oh," says Coelho, "I was with the Pope two weeks ago. You can get the photos from Associated Press." He laughs conspiratorially, shaking his head and adding, "Oh, they're wise They know, they know."What, I demand. And yet at the end of The Fifth Mountain Coelho seems to allude to it."Well, that is a very clear biblical reference to reincarnation," he corrects me, "when Christ tells Matthew that St John the Baptist is Elijah. And then you have to learn this strange, symbolic language, which I call the Language of Omens.
For each of us, it's a different language, our own personal language. My signs are not your signs, and to learn them we have to make mistakes. And that takes courage and discipline."But if he is a Catholic, where does he stand on rebirth? After all, the Pope is clearly not having it, thank you very much. But I don't say to the priest, `Guide me.' Nearly nine millennia ago, in Sumeria, they created a wall between the temple and the city And we still have this wall inside us We separate the sacred and the profane. And we have to tear this wall down, and understand that everything is sacred."Does he really believe this is possible in a modern, secular, consumerist society? In an age as cynical as our own? You bet he does."If you are open, if you give the sense of sacredness to every moment of your life, then everything is sacred.
