THE DISAPPEARING DUKE: The Improbable Tale of an Eccentric English Family

When, in the early 19th century, the fourth duke of Portland informed his sons that owing to "the strain of madness" in the family, "the normal life of married bliss cannot be for you," Lord John, the future fifth duke, came up with a unique and eventually problematic solution: he lived a double—or perhaps even triple—life. Calling himself Thomas Druce, he wooed and married a 16-year-old village girl and fathered three children. Then he abandoned her, eventually bringing the children to London, where he had fathered the first of three children with another woman whom he refused to marry until his first wife was dead. Confused yet? There's more: Druce also joined the army, ran a successful London department store and might have checked himself into an insane asylum for a time under the name of Dr. Harmer. As the duke of Portland at mid-century, he had underground tunnels built both at his country house and, rumor had it, his London mansion, the better to keep his many secrets. How he managed to juggle his multiple identities is a mystery that British authors Freeman-Keel (From Auschwitz to Alderney) and Crofts (coauthor of Sold) never do solve, but they recreate a fantastic tale of deception, intrigue and madness. Still, though this is an entertaining read, those expecting a strict historical reconstruction of events will be less than satisfied; the authors provide little in the way of sourcing for this "dramatization of a true story in which the truth is tantalizingly elusive." (Mar.)