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A factual and amazing account of Georgian Aristocracy one for feminists and anyone interested in the reality of Georgian marriges. If it were fiction you would think it over the top - but it is true

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I really liked this book. It flows well, like a novel, but is interspersed with relevant historical detail (for example, the rumbling dinosaur of the Georgian legal system) and contemporary accounts from letters from the time which have survived.
The protagonist, Mary Eleanor Bowes (an ancestor of the Queen Mum, no less) is wonderfully portrayed and in an ultimately positive light given that previous publications about her have been less than complimentary. The book details the complicated and Draconian Georgian attitudes towards women, their rights and property and these descriptions don't half exasperate you - men were allowed to beat their wives to keep them to their duties! As for Mary's husband, well, reading what he did to her and several others is, even in today's society, utterly horrific to say the least. The good news is as you read, you can feel the net closing around him....and the heart-stopping chapter in which Mary is kidnapped had me literally sitting on the edge of my seat.
The book has a whole multitude of references and bibliography in the back and the author has obviously researched the story in great detail. Don't expect a nice bodice-ripping yarn or a feministic preach though - this book is neither. What it is, is a well thought out, well written and utterly heart-rending saga which could easily be made into a movie (If you liked Keira Knightley's "The Countess", you'll like this).
Thus, the story of a precocious heiress who almost loses everything, including her own life, makes excellent reading.
The truly brilliant thing about this book, though, is that it is not a work of fiction - this is a biography of one of the era's most prominent women, who found inner strength from somewhere against all odds.

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I am amazed by the general enthusiasm for this book, it is overlong and has too much repetitive detail. The actual story of Mary Eleanor is interesting, but is buried beneath countless references to similar cases, and a surfeit of adjectives. The same facts are repeated several times throughout the book. The book is made more confusing by many of the characters having the same names, and whilst as this is a biography this is not the fault of the author, a family tree or list of characters would have been helpful. This is not my isolated opinion, i read this as part of a book group and we all felt the same way, only 3 of 7 people finished the book, which is a record even by our standards! I also lent a copy to my mother in law who made the same comments.

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starts off interesting then I lost the plot a bit but as too many charactors mentioned, please bear with it as 2 thirds in you finally get to the good bits and it seems much easier to read.

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If you are looking for something different read away from trashy novels and soppy romances then this is the book for you. Wedlock is the true story of the girl who had everything, wealth, looks, personality and a family who doted on her. After an unsuccessful first marriage Mary Eleanor Bowes fell into the trap of a dashing young solider called Andrew Robinson Stony who married her for her fortune and was determined to make her life more than a misery.

Moore's account of this interesting and disturbing relationship draws on eye witness accounts, court details and personal letters providing you with a book that reads more like a sensation novel than reality but is ultimately an intriguing insight into the social history of the Georgian Era.

The book takes your breath away in astonishment at how Stony could be so cunning and cruel and in a time when women's rights were unheard of you realise the enormity of what Eleanor endured and in the end, achieved.