Nowhere is the subtlety of Ophelia Field's historical understanding more apparent than in her delicate reading of the relationship between Sarah and Anne. That it is Field's fist book is something of a wonder ... The Favourite is an outstandingly accomplished debut. - Guardian
Field has created an unforgettable picture of a remarkable figure ... Even after 250 years, she fascinates like nobody else of her time. - Sunday Herald
Scholarly, highly articulate, and above all never dull - John Adamson, Sunday Telegraph
[ Sarah Churchill] is a marvellous subject for a biography, and Ophelia Field's book, capacious and beautifully detailed, does her full justice, discarding cliched judgements and bringing to light new evidence ... It is the first work by a writer who is master of her craft - Independent
The particular strengths of Field's book lie in areas unexplored by others, in particular the discussion of contemporary writing. - Carola Hicks, The Times Literary Supplement
Lively, scholarly and ... sympathetic - Sunday Telegraph
A profile of society's fear of forceful women. - Image Magazine
"Behind every great man, they say, is a strong woman. Sarah Duchess of Marlborough, the not always cozy confidante of Queen Anne, looms large over the eighteenth century, and Ophelia Field has done a remarkable - and surely definitive - job of bringing her story to life.'
