A Strange Eventful History: The Dramatic Lives of Ellen Terry, Henry Irving, and Their Remarkable Families »

Knighted for his services to literature, Michael Holroyd is the author of acclaimed biographies of George Bernard Shaw, the painter Augustus John, and Lytton Strachey, as well as two memoirs. He is the president of the Royal Society of Literature and the only nonfiction writer to have been awarded the David Cohen British Literature Prize. He lives in London with his wife, the novelist Margaret Drabble.

From perhaps our greatest living biographer, a portrait of a fascinating theater family, and of a turning point in popular entertainment in the Western world.

List of Illustrations xii

Notes on the Text and Acknowledgements xvi

Rumours of a Death Foretold 1

Part 1

1 A Story in a Book 5

2 The Terrys 8

3 Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall 16

4 Heaven and Holland Park 22

5 England's Michelangelo 26

6 The Kingdom of Pattledom 29

7 A Marriage Is Arranged and a Deed of Separation Signed 35

8 The Kate Terry Valse 47

9 Found Drowned 52

10 Happiness for a Time 54

11 All Change 63

12 A Failure to Be Proud Of 66

13 Men! 79

Part 2

14 What's in a Name? 91

15 Entrances and Exits 98

16 Their Coronation 108

17 Our Lady of the Lyceum 119

18 Interval: Irving on Holiday 127

19 His Shylock 129

20 Shakespeare's Lovers 135

21 Children! 143

22 Our American Cousins 158

23 From Malvolio to Mephistopheles 170

24 Death of a Husband, Death of a Lover 179

Part 3

25 Her Lady Macbeth 193

26 Ted and Edy and Harry and Laurence 202

27 All Is True 220

28 After the Shooting 227

29 Counter Attractions 234

30 One More Laurel Wreath 243

31 Mixed Fortunes 247

32 The Irish Pretender 266

33 Wishful Thinking 276

34 Choices 284

35 Confusions 295

36 For Love or Money 303

Part 4

37 Made in Heaven 321

38 A Sea of Troubles: Helgeland and Hungerheart 333

39 The End of Irving 354

Part 5

40 Women! 367

41 Brothers 392

Part 6

42 Family Affairs 409

43 Masks and Faces 435

44 Not Quite Alone 470

45 The Long Game of Patience 478

46 An Occasion 493

Part 7

47 For Friendship's Sake 513

48 Good Night Unto You All 531

49 White Candle, Aged Face 553

An Outline of Sources 575

Select Bibliography 585

Index 591