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Mistress of My Fate

Mistress of My Fate

By the award-winning and Sunday Times bestselling author of THE FIVE

Summary

Perfect fiction for fans of BBC TV's hit series BRIDGERTON and HARLOTS

'A remarkable picture of a fascinating age' Daily Express
'A full-blooded historical' Independent
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My tale is not for the faint of heart.

Born illegitimate in eighteenth-century England, the scandalous Henrietta Lightfoot gives us her version of the truth about her criminal life in this delicious coming-of-age.

Fleeing her childhood home for the big city, Henrietta is now swimming in the London underworld of rakes, rogues, sharks, pimps and courtesans - she quickly sees that true liberty is a man's privilege.

What must Henrietta do to survive in a world designed for men?

Gripping, twisty, shocking, MISTRESS OF MY FATE illuminates the dark lives of the women written out by the masters of eighteenth-century literature. Vibrant and full-blooded, it is an irresistible picaresque story for our times

'Two parts Lizzie Bennett and Tom Jones's Sophia Western to one part Moll Flanders' INDEPENDENT

'Combines extraordinary bawdiness with silky sophistication' DAILY EXPRESS

Reviews

  • A remarkable picture of a fascinating age which combined extraordinary bawdiness with silky sophistication (think Hogarth and Gainsborough)
    DAILY EXPRESS

About the author

Hallie Rubenhold

Hallie Rubenhold is the No.1 Sunday Times bestselling and Baillie Gifford prize-winning author of The Five, the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper. A renowned social historian whose expertise lies in revealing stories of previously unknown women and episodes in history, she is the author of The Covent Garden Ladies which was the inspiration behind BBC TV's 'Harlots'. Her biographical work, Lady Worsley's Whim, was dramatized by the BBC as 'The Scandalous Lady W'. Her most recent work of non-fiction, Story of a Murder, the wives, the mistress and Dr Crippen, will be published in March 2025. She has also written two acclaimed novels Mistress of My Fate and The French Lesson which give voice to the women written out by eighteenth-century literature. She lives in London with her husband. Meet her @HallieRubenhold
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