The Angel and the Cad

A narrative history rich with romance and tragedy, The Angel and the Cad is the story of the high society scandal that gripped Regency England. The day she turned 16, Catherine Tylney Long became the wealthiest heiress in England and the public found their 'angel'. Witty, wealthy and beautiful, Catherine was the most eligible of young ladies and was courted by royalty but, ignoring the warnings of her closest confidantes, she married for love. Her choice of husband was the charming but feckless dandy William Wellesley Pole, nephew of the Duke of Wellington. The pair excited the public's interest on an unprecedented scale with gossip columns reporting every detail of their magnificent home in Wanstead, along with their honeymoon of royal fetes, dinners and parties. But their happiness was short-lived and just a decade later William had frittered away Catherine's inheritance, even selling off her beloved Wanstead House brick by brick, and their marriage ended in a cruel and dramatic divorce and a landmark custody battle. Meticulously researched and rich with dazzling detail, The Angel and the Cad is a gripping and tragic tale of love and drama that twists and turns until the final page PRAISE FOR GERALDINE ROBERTS "Fascinating [...] Roberts does an outstanding job of bringing this dark tale to life, and her book truly is a page-turner that surpasses any work of Regency fiction." BBC History Magazine "Geraldine Roberts gives a compassionate look at two wholly disparate personalities and the wider society in which they span their elegant, and ultimately ruinous, lives." History Revealed "Geraldine Roberts gives a compassionate look at two wholly disparate personalities and the wider society in which they span their elegant, and ultimately ruinous, lives. [...] Roberts has serious and well-researched points to make" The Oldie