In 1755 the curtain rose on the birth of little Sarah Kemble in a tiny upstairs room of a remote Welsh inn. By the time she was five Sarah was a seasoned member of the family troupe of strolling players—and from these humble beginnings she grew up to become "The Incomparable Sarah Siddons, the greatest actress of her time"—a mistress of tragedy onstage, a victim of tragedy in her personal life.

Young Sarah's parents were determined she would not become an actress, for the life of eighteenth century strolling players in England was a hard one, albeit gay, traveling on rough roads from town to town, eating and sleeping in makeshift quarters. When, at fifteen, Sarah fell in love with William Siddons, a handsome member of the troupe, she was quickly apprenticed as a lady's maid. True love survived the separation and on her eighteenth birthday, she and Siddons were married and she rejoined the Kemble troupe as an actress.

Fortune shone even brighter before tragedy struck. The fabulous David Garrick sent for her to appear with his London company at the famous Drury Lane theatre. Ill and tired from having her first baby, Sarah made her London debut as Portia and failed so miserably she was booed off the stage. Garrick retired and her contract was not renewed.

Leaving London in an agony of defeat, she returned to the provinces, finding success at the fashionable resort of Bath where the socially prominent Duchess of Devonshire befriended Sarah and helped arrange her return to Drury Lane. This time Sarah Siddons became the toast of London.

King George III invited her to read to the royal family. Aging Dr. Johnson asked to meet her; Gainsborough painted her; Sir Joshua Reynolds designed the costume for her most famous role, Lady MacBeth, said to have been "the most marvellous of all."

Here is an unforgettable picture of an era in the English theatre that produced some of the greatest acting talent. Here are a series of portraits of a little girl grown to womanhood against the shifting background of theatres from the hinterlands to the famous Drury Lane; from the time of her first failure with David Garrick to the height of her triumph. More than that, it is a love story that began at fifteen and endured through a lifetime till the curtain fell at last on the first lady of the theatre, Sarah Siddons.

From the dust jacket