Provisions which are now taken for granted, such as the right of a mother to have access to her own children, owe much to Caroline, who was determined to secure justice for women at all levels of society from the privileged to the dispossessed. Over the next few years she campaigned tirelessly, achieving her first landmark victory with the Infant Custody Act of 1839. She channeled her energies in an area of much-needed reform: the rights of a married woman and specifically those of a mother. Beset by the personal cruelties perpetrated by her husband and a society whose rules were set against her, she chose to fight, not surrender. He also claimed her income as an author for himself, since the copyrights of a married woman belonged to her husband.

Despite the unexpected and sensational result-acquittal-Norton was still able to legally deny Caroline access to her three children, all under seven. Racked with jealousy, George Norton took the Prime Minister to court, suing him for damages on account of his 'Criminal Conversation' (adultery) with Caroline. Talese/Doubleday 328 pages 28.95) Lady Antonia Fraser was 42 years old, an accomplished biographer and historian.

Most prominent among her admirers was the widowed Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne. Must You Go My Life With Harold Pinter By Antonia Fraser (Nan A. After her marriage in 1828 to the MP George Norton, she continued to attract friends and admirers to her salon in Westminster, which included the young Disraeli. Award-winning historian Antonia Fraser brilliantly portrays a courageous and compassionate woman who refused to be curbed by the personal and political constraints of her time.Ĭaroline Norton dazzled nineteenth-century society with her vivacity, her intelligence, her poetry, and in her role as an artist's muse.

Must you go? by Antonia Fraser