Mistress of My Fate

Brought to you by Penguin. For fans of BBC TV's hit series HARLOTSMy tale is not for the faint of heart.Born illegitimate in eighteenth-century England, Henrietta Lightfoot reveals the truth about the events that shaped her in this candid confessional of a wide-eyed girl's journey to worldliness. Forced to flee her childhood home for the capital, Henrietta falls face first into a demi-monde of rakes, rogues, wits, pimps and courtesans. It is not long before she realizes that true liberty is a privilege to be enjoyed by men. But Henrietta is determined to find independence.In this deliciously deviant novel, Rubenhold illuminates the dark lives of the women written out of eighteenth-century literature by the great male writers. Vibrant and full-blooded, it is an unputdownable picaresque story for our times'A remarkable picture of a fascinating age' DAILY EXPRESS'A full-blooded historical' INDEPENDENT'Two parts Lizzie Bennett and Tom Jones's Sophia Western to one part Moll Flanders' INDEPENDENT'Combines extraordinary bawdiness with silky sophistication' DAILY EXPRESS(c) Hallie Rubenhold 2011 (P) Penguin Audio 2021