Description
Presents the true story of the Chavalier D'Eon, a celebrated eighteenth-century French diplomat and spy who lived the last thirty-five years of his life as a woman
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Born in 1728, French aristocrat Charles d'Eon de Beaumont had served his country as a diplomat, soldier, and spy for fifteen years when rumors that he was in fact a woman began to circulate in the courts of Europe. D'Eon denied nothing and was finally compelled by Louis XVI to give up male attire and live as a woman, something d'Eon did without complaint for the next three decades. Although celebrated as one of the century's most remarkable women, d'Eon was, after his death in 1810, revealed to have been unambiguously male. Gary Kates's acclaimed biography of d'Eon recreates 18th-century European society in brilliant detail and offers a compelling portrait of an individual who challenged its conventions about gender and identity.
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