Author Description

Possessing "a definite taste for defiance," the Marquise du Deffand (1696-1780) shocked even the immoral French society of the 1700s by flouting decorum and blatantly disregarding women's traditional roles. Madame du Deffand and Her World is the first full-length portrait of this remarkable woman, among the most scandalous of her time, who played a major part in the turbulent decades leading up to the French Revolution.