The book that inspired ITV's hit drama HARLOTS . . .
1757 - Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies, a salacious publication detaling the names and 'specialities' of the capital's prostitutes, eventually became one of the eighteenth century's most successful literary works as well as an essential accessory for any serious gentleman of pleasure.
Beyond its titillating passages lay a glimpse into the sex lives of those who lived and died by the List's profits during the Georgian era.
The Covent Garden Ladies tells the story of three unusual characters whose colourful lives were brought together by this publication.
Its story plunges the reader down the dark alleys of eighteenth-century London's underworld, a realm populated by tavern owners, pimps, punters, card sharks and of course, a colourful range of prostitutes and brothel-keepers.
'Rubenhold proves herself both a keen researcher and a writer who understands narrative tension...a compelling and ingenious book.' The Independent
'Scrupulously researched and cleverly structured...Among the scurrilous tales of 18th-century low life...this one is the most intriguing.' The Daily Telegraph
It was the divorce that scandalised Georgian England... She was a spirited young heiress. He was a handsome baronet with a promising career in government.
Their marriage had the makings of a fairy tale but ended as one of the most salacious and highly publicised divorces in history.
For over two hundred years the story of Lady Worsley, her vengeful husband, and her lover, George Maurice Bisset, lay forgotten. Now Hallie Rubenhold throws open a window to a rarely seen view of Georgian England, one coloured by passion, adventure and the defiance of social convention.
The book behind the major new BBC drama starring Natalie Dormer (Game of Thrones, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay).
'A fabulous story and Rubenhold tells it beautifully' (Daily Telegraph)
'Hallie Rubenhold is in a league of her own. She keeps you glued to the very last page when, exhausted, exasperated and elated, you can at last put the book down and get yourself some sleep.... Nothing else in the genre is close to being this good' (Literary Review)
'Hallie Rubenhold's account of the elopement is gripping but this is far more than an 18th-century bodice-ripper. Rubenhold combines narrative skill with historical expertise, and she traces the knife-edge that women walked between social success and public disgrace with subtlety and assurance' (Spectator)
Hallie Rubenhold is a social historian and an authority on women's lives of the past. She has worked as a curator for the National Portrait Gallery and as a university lecturer. Her books include Lady Worsley's Whim, dramatized by the BBC as The Scandalous Lady W, and Covent Garden Ladies: The Extraordinary Story of Harris's List, which inspired the ITV series Harlots. She lives in London with her husband.
'Compelling and operatic...Reads like a modern thriller' SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE, author of The Romanovs
'A dark and irresistible historical novel' LUCY WORSLEY
1789: Henrietta Lightfoot, a young Englishwoman, trips on her silk gown as she runs for her life along the bloodstained streets of revolutionary Paris. She finds refuge in the opulent home of Grace Dalyrmple Elliott, the city's most celebrated courtesan. But heads are rolling, neighbours fear neighbours, and masters whisper before servants. As the sound of the guillotine echoes outside, within the gilded salons of high society Henrietta becomes a pawn in a vicious game of female power. How will she survive in a world where no one can be trusted?
Set during a period of revolution and turmoil, Mistress of My Fate is the first audiobook in a trilogy about Henrietta Lightfoot, a young woman who was abandoned as a baby and raised alongside her cousins, noble children of a lord and lady. At just sixteen years old, circumstance and a passionate love affair tear Henrietta away from everything she knows, leading to a new life fending for herself on the streets of 18th century London as a courtesan, gambler, and spirited intellect of the city.
