The French Lesson

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

Select a format:

Retailers:

Amazon Blackwells Bookshop.org Foyles Hive Waterstones WHSmith

Summary

'A thrilling novel of female intrigue, betrayal and revenge. Read it!' LUCY WORSLEY
'Dark and delicious' Red Magazine
'Utterly gripping and highly relevant' SIMON SEBAG-MONTEFIORE
_____
Fear your neighbour. Praise the Republic. Preach liberty. Hate monarchy. Speak in whispers. Trust no-one.

Revolutionary Paris, 1792: As the city spirals into bloodshed, Henrietta Lightfoot a young Englishwoman runs for her life to the extravagant home of Grace Dalrymple, notorious courtesan to the aristocracy.

But loyalties are tested when she befriends Grace's arch rival, a committed revolutionary and mistress of the most powerful man in France. Trapped in a terrifying game of wits between these two dangerous women, Henrietta is about to learn the most brutal lesson of her life.

A tale of friendship and betrayal, The French Lesson is an eye-popping drama of power and manipulation, as the women written out of the French Revolution tell their own story of smarts and sacrifice.

PERFECT FOR FANS OF HARLOTS and BRIDGERTON
_____

'A gleefully modern retelling of a juicy chapter in history' The Times
'Rubenhold unfolds a complicated plot with great dexterity' Sunday Times

About the author

Hallie Rubenhold

Hallie Rubenhold is the #1 Sunday Times bestselling and Baillie Gifford prize-winning author of The Five, the Untold Lives of 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

Learn More