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The Covent Garden Ladies
  • Published: 8 November 2012
  • ISBN: 9781448153916
  • Imprint: Transworld Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 432
Categories:

The Covent Garden Ladies

the book that inspired BBC2’s ‘Harlots’

Formats & editions
EBook
8 Nov 2012
Paperback
16 Feb 2021
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By the No.1 Sunday Times bestselling author and Baillie Gifford prize-winner for non-fiction.

SOON TO BE STREAMED ON NETFLIX

By the Baillie Gifford prize-winning and No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of THE FIVE

'A fascinating expose of the seamy side of eighteenth century life' MAIL ON SUNDAY
'Rubenhold's pages practically reek with smelly, pox-ridden Georgian Soho' GUARDIAN
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In 1757, a down-and-out Irish poet, the head waiter at the Shakespear's Head Tavern in Covent Garden, and a celebrated London courtesan became bound together by the publication of a little book: Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies. This salacious work - detailing the names and 'specialities' of the capital's sex-workers- became one of the eighteenth century's most scandalous bestsellers.

Yet beyond its titillating passages lies a glimpse into the lives of those who lived and died by its profits - a tragicomic opera of the Georgian era, motivated by poverty, passionate love, aspiration and shame.

In this modern and visceral narrative, historian Hallie Rubenhold reveals the story behind Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies, and the legion of ordinary women whose lives in the sex trade history has chosen to ignore.

'Scrupulously researched' DAILY TELEGRAPH

'Crackles with drama and tension' GUARDIAN

'Compelling and ingenious' INDEPENDENT

WHAT READERS ARE SAYING:

'This book is an absolute 'must'-read for any person interested in English social history' 5 ****
'Fascinating' 5 ****
'Brilliant. Full of intelligent insight which brings this period to vibrant life' 5 ****
________

**BUY THE AUTHOR'S BRAND NEW WORK, STORY OF A MURDER**
'Terrific' Ian Rankin
'I dare you to put it down' Lucy Worsley
'Fascinating' Val McDermid
  • Published: 8 November 2012
  • ISBN: 9781448153916
  • Imprint: Transworld Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 432
Categories:

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, has been optioned for TV. 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

portrait photo of Hallie Rubenhold

Also by Hallie Rubenhold

The Five
Story of a Murder
The French Lesson
The Scandalous Lady W
Harris's List of the Covent Garden Ladies
Mistress of My Fate
See all

Praise for The Covent Garden Ladies

Rubenhold proves herself both a keen researcher and a writer who understands narrative tension...a compelling and ingenious book

Independent

Scrupulously researched and cleverly structured... Among the scurrilous tales of 18th-century low life...this one is the most intriguing.

Daily Telegraph

A good story...impeccable...

Times

Rubenhold's pages practically reek with smelly, pox-ridden Georgian Soho. She shows, with a complete lack of po-faced sermonising, the dangers of prostitution as well as the possibilities it offered, and she creates a narrative from the interrelated fortunes of her three main characters that crackles with drama and tension.

Guardian

A fascinating exposé of the seamy side of 18th century life (awarded five stars)

Mail on Sunday

The Covent Garden Ladies has all the atmosphere and edge of a good novel combined with the erudition and scholarship of history at its best. With this magnificent debut Hallie Rubenhold deserves to storm the literary world.

Frances Wilson

A marvellous read – I absolutely loved these divinely irresistible rascals and the brilliant telling of their escapades.

Leonie Frieda

A scandalous tale

BBC History Magazine
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