Julie Ann Godson

The Water Gypsy Julie Ann Godson

At dusk on a snowy evening in 1766 a tired young couple made out the welcoming lights burning in the windows of the creaky old manor house that was to be their home. He was Lord Ashbrook, she was Betty Ridge, daughter of a humble fisherman. Earlier that day they had been married in a little village church, and now Betty was embarking on a new life in the alien world of the aristocracy. Based on the author's original research, The Water Gypsy traces the true, untold story of Betty's struggle to protect her children's interests in the hostile climate of 18th-century Ireland. It was a project which culminated in the most glittering marriage in the entire history of the Ashbrook family when Betty's granddaughter became Duchess of Marlborough and chatelaine of Blenheim Palace.