A kind of restless energy crackles and bristles around the name of Lola Montez. From her life as a rebellious adolescent and runaway bride to that of a celebrated dancer who was the toast of 19th-century bohemia – not to mention a whip-wielding countess and divisive socialist – Montez lived with a kind of vigour that is hard to capture but is certainly the reason why, even long after death, her personality still seems to smoulder with unexpected heat from beneath the many…
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