You think you know her story. You’ve read the Brothers Grimm, you’ve watched the Disney cartoons, you cheered as these virtuous women lived happily ever after. But the lives of real princesses couldn’t be more different. Sure, many were graceful and benevolent leaders—but just as many were ruthless in their quest for power, and all of them had skeletons rattling in their royal closets. Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe was a Nazi spy. Empress Elizabeth of the Austro-Hungarian empire slept wearing a mask of raw veal. Princess Olga of Kiev murdered thousands of men, and Princess Rani Lakshmibai waged war on the battlefield, charging into combat with her toddler son strapped to her back. Princesses Behaving Badly offers minibiographies of all these princesses and dozens more. It’s a fascinating read for history buffs, feminists, and anyone seeking a different kind of bedtime story.
Linda Rodriguez McRobbie is an American writer and journalist living in London, England. She's written about everything from the history of toilet paper to the story of the Ouija Board and has, so far, never met a topic that didn't sound utterly fascinating.After graduating from Columbia School of Journalism in 2004, Linda began her career in Boston, first at the City Desk of the Boston Herald, fielding phone calls from irate readers and would-be tipsters with probable mental illness, and writing articles. From there, she moved to the South End News, paper of record for the South End of Boston, and Bay Windows, paper of record for New England's GLBTQ community. After four years in the trenches of community journalism, Linda decided to both move to London and become a fulltime freelance journalist. Neither decision turned to out be as easy as they sounded.
Once in London, Linda became the editor of The Periscope Post, an online news site that specialised in highlighting the most interesting and important commentary of the day. In November 2012, she left the Post to begin work on her first book, Princesses Behaving Badly, published by Quirk Books (order now!).
Back in the freelance saddle, Linda has been writing primarily for Smithsonian.com and Mental Floss, both the magazine and the web. Her work has also appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, CNN Money, US News & World Report, and others.
She's married to graphic designer Chris McRobbie and they have one son and one cat.
(biography taken from Linda's official website)
This book is a collection of short stories about princesses and women that really lived. And although they are not the Disney princesses that we have all come to love and adore. These women from history are some of the most interesting stories. From warriors to floozies there a princess for everyone! A DEFF must read for someone I treated to learn about real live princesses.
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