This is not always true but this novella is probably best expressed by the quote that you can find on the back cover.

“ I am as Ambitious as ever any of my Sex was, or can be; though I cannot be Henry the Fifth, or Charles the Second, yet I endeavour to be Margaret the First”.

This is a fictionalised account of the life of the self-styled Margaret the first (or Mad Madge to the common folk). Margaret Cavendish duchess of Newcastle was larger than life and the first women ever to be commercially published. Her life was fabulous and ideal source material for historical fiction.
Danielle Dutton does Margaret proud imagining her as a woman with foibles and passions blossoming from a young quite imaginative introverted girl to an opinionated strong willed passionate woman. We see flashes of the young girl’s insecurity no matter how successful the woman becomes.

However it is the lyrical, descriptive, prose that makes this novella a sparkling gem.
“As for our mother she was beautiful beyond the ruins of time.”
“Fireworks, speeches , gun salutes, a ball.”
“The sun has risen, the sky is piled with clouds.”
These images are strung together like pearls on chain telling incidents of Margaret’s life in chronological order. We jump years sometimes between each pearl.

There are some oddities here. The switch from first person to third person was strange (unlike most reviewers I preferred the first person). The ending was a little rushed as if Dutton couldn’t imagine any pretty or interesting incidents in the final years.

Overall though a charming book that cries out to be reread to be fully appreciated.
This novella is recommended to those who like something that is beautifully written and true.