The Grit in the Pearl: The Scandalous Life of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll Hardcover – June 1, 2019

All my life, I had heard about this “dreadful” woman. I was fascinated by her. I then forgot all about her. Whilst reading my way through Lady Colin Campbell’s books she pops up again. Another side to the ongoing story.The Campbell men, as Dukes of Argyll, are not the most pleasant of human beings. They are mercenary at best,from all accounts, exceedingly unpleasant at worst as husbands from their wives recollections.They burst onto the historical stage at Glencoe and it is all downhill from there. Personally, as a Scot, I have little to do with Campbells. Just saying.Margaret comes across as a product of her generation, a last bright flame of a dying breed. None too bright, enormously wealthy, privileged and blessed with the right looks for the time, she shone incandescently. Dazzling men, she picked and used, used and dropped, flitted and married, was cushioned by wealth and connections until the very end. Self professedly highly sexed, she loved being with men. Did she like sex or the process of romance? She was a contemporary of Wallis Simpson, and looked like her.The famous Headless Polaroid is here, not the photo itself, but a discussion. We still don’t know the man, but we have a good stab at his identity.Personally, I would love to know how these women never got pregnant. Or perhaps they did, and had “ terminations”. How DID they cope with such active sex lives and keep their birth rates so low?If you like a good readable biography, try this. It skips and jumps. Misses chunks and I think this is due to lack of material? Just stay away from Campbell men!

I knew nothing about the Duchess before reading this book. The book offers a factual and multi faceted look at her story. It reads very much like a novel and was enjoyable to read. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys biographies. I would also seek out other works by this author as this one is so well done.

I couldn't put this book down because I couldn't relate to her lifestyle of men, money, and entitlement. Fascinating psychological study of a woman's reality in the upper class of who she thought she was and who she thought she should be. For sure there was grit in her pearl.

Most books for this price are , well, book sized. This is over priced for a short book. Interesting but not great. She was an interesting lady. I read 2 books recently about Hugette Clark and found those both superior to this. I am not saying not to read it but it's mediocre compared to many books I have read.

Interesting but not worth the cost. Typical of wealthy seeking attention. It is a repeat of so many in the upper class. Sadly there seldom is any contentment or joy but a lot of money money spent carelessly

This book kept me wanting more. Well-written story about a very compelling woman. Bought it on a whim and glad I did!

This book was a disappointment. While the early life of Margaret Argyle is well written, full of interesting detail with fully drawn characters, most of the book is little more than a listing of aristocrats and millionaires she knew. The book would benefit from photographs which might at least give the reader something to spur the imagination. Give this one a pass.

boring

I contacted the author last year via twitter toTell her how much I enjoyed her previous book and I urged her to write about marg of arg ! Well she’s stepped up to the plate with this fabulous book ! I didn’t just like it I loved it ! Beautifully written well researched it tellsThe story of Margaret’s brittle beauty and ultimately sad life in great detail I could notRecommend this book highly enough to anyone interested in this genre.It’s a must read I could not put it down!A 5 star ⭐️ read !

This has got to be one of the most badly written amateurish books written. So many errors. Spelling, grammar, just wrong and the style so irritating. Page 96 'The re-lanscaped park was home to Olive's managerie of exotic birds, and on (in) the grounds her pet llamas and zebras ran free.' To many 'for' instead of because. Did anyone check this rubbish before publication. Scream.

I bought the book because the subject was related to me. It is badly written and full of inaccuracies and simple spelling mistakes (Bondant for Bodnant, for example and the spelling of people's names changes.) I am finding it difficult to get involved.

What a dire disappointment! Of course, I bought this expecting some prurient gossip about the post-War upper class, and some new information about this most scandalous of women. Instead I plough through a dreary, repetitive tome, completely devoid of humour (like its subject, as we are told many times) and written so badly that it seems the author can't possibly be a native speaker of English. Truly, unforgettably awful.

Firstly to say that almost a third of the book is notes so when your Kindle says 50% read, in fact you have little reading matter remaining. A good editor would have weeded out the endless lists of guests at various functions and their backgrounds as they added nothing to the story except to pad it out.