F. W. Kenyon (1912–1989)

Not Jane Austen's Emma for once, but 'that Hamilton woman'.

After reading Kate Williams' biography of Emma Hamilton, I wanted to test my theory that only a fictional account, written by a good author, could really bring Emma to life. Well, F.W. Kenyon is but a serviceable author, and he idolises Emma rather than understands her, yet his novelisation of her life is on the whole factually accurate and readable.

Kenyon compresses certain historical details - for instance, although Emma was constantly reinventing herself, 'Emma Hart' was actually Charles Greville's name for her - and 'fictionalises' entirely new scenes to make the story flow better, but then, very little is known about Emma Hamilton's life and even biographers like Williams have to 'embroider' the truth to fill a book. I didn't begrudge him that. Emma's bizarre mockney accent, however, is another matter - why, before Greville irons out her speech, does she sound like Eliza Doolittle when 'Amy Lyon' came from Cheshire, in the north-west?

Aside from that little niggle, Kenyon's fictional interpretation is a worthy alternative to Kate Williams' historical biography (read one or the other to get a sense of Emma Hamilton's character, not both) . Emma is larger than life, as she should be, Greville, Hamilton and Nelson are all flawed yet likeable characters, and Emma's doomed love affair with Nelson is suitably complex: 'All this honour and glory, and honour and glory it certainly is, has gone to your head. Now, if Admiral Nelson was just a nobody -', as Emma's mother astutely appraises her daughter's infatuation with the partially blind, one-armed war hero! If nothing else, Kenyon has brought me closer to understanding why Emma fell in love with Nelson, and the final chapters of the book, which ends with his death at the Battle of Trafalgar, are suitably poignant.… (mais)