Their marriage had the makings of a fairy tale but ended as one of the most salacious and highly publicized divorces in history. In February 1782, England opened its newspapers to read the details of Sir Richard Worsley vs. George Maurice Bisset, a Criminal Conversation trial in which the aggrieved Sir Richard attempted to sue his wife’s lover for an astronomical £20,000 in damages. In the course of the proceedings, the Worsley’s scandalous sexual arrangements, voyeuristic tendencies and bed-hopping antics were laid bare. Lady Worsley’s Whim is the story of a marriage between two opposing personalities; a stoic, art-collecting empiricist and a passionate romantic. Their tale is driven by the consequences of a terrible error of judgment made at a bath house on a summer’s afternoon. The aftermath of this “whim” altered their lives forever. This fascinating story has lain buried in long forgotten newspapers, overlooked pamphlets, yellowing satires and uncatalogued letters. No other author, past or present, has ever told it before. From the Hardcover edition.

Lady Worsley's Whim: An Eighteenth-Century Tale of Sex, Scandal and Divorce

History

Rubenhold, Hallie

Europe

Vintage Books

The Lady in Red: An Eighteenth-Century Tale of Sex, Scandal, and Divorce

She was a spirited young heiress. He was a handsome baronet with a promising career in government. The marriage of Lady Seymour Dorothy Fleming and Sir Richard Worsley had the makings of a fairy tale—but ended as one of the most scandalous and highly publicized divorces in history.
In February 1782, England opened its newspapers to read the details of a criminal conversation trial in which the handsome baronet Sir Richard Worsley attempted to sue his wife’s lover for an astronomical sum in damages. In the course of the proceedings, the Worsleys’ scandalous sexual arrangements, voyeuristic tendencies, and bed-hopping antics were laid bare. The trial and its verdict stunned society, but not as much as the unrepentant behavior of Lady Worsley.
Sir Joshua Reynolds captured the brazen character of his subject when he created his celebrated portrait of Lady Worsley in a fashionable red riding habit, but it was her shocking affairs that made her divorce so infamous that even George Washington followed it in the press. Impeccably researched and written with great flair, this lively and moving true history presents a rarely seen picture of aristocratic life in the Georgian era.

St.Martin's Press

She was a spirited young heiress. He was a handsome baronet with a promising career in government. The marriage of Lady Seymour Dorothy Fleming and Sir Richard Worsley had the makings of a fairy tale―but ended as one of the most scandalous and highly publicized divorces in history.
In February 1782, England opened its newspapers to read the details of a criminal conversation trial in which the handsome baronet Sir Richard Worsley attempted to sue his wife's lover for an astronomical sum in damages. In the course of the proceedings, the Worsleys' scandalous sexual arrangements, voyeuristic tendencies, and bed-hopping antics were laid bare. The trial and its verdict stunned society, but not as much as the unrepentant behavior of Lady Worsley.
Sir Joshua Reynolds captured the brazen character of his subject when he created his celebrated portrait of Lady Worsley in a fashionable red riding habit, but it was her shocking affairs that made her divorce so infamous that even George Washington followed it in the press. Impeccably researched and written with great flair, Hallie Rubenhold's The Lady in Red is a lively and moving true history that presents a rarely seen picture of aristocratic life in the Georgian era.

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

St. Martin's: Griffin

Five devastating human stories and a dark and moving portrait of Victorian London—the untold lives of the women killed by Jack the Ripper Polly, Annie, Elisabeth, Catherine, and Mary Jane are famous for the same thing, though they never met. They came from Fleet Street, Knightsbridge, Wolverhampton, Sweden, and Wales. They wrote ballads, ran coffeehouses, lived on country estates; they breathed ink dust from printing presses and escaped human traffickers. What they had in common was the year of their murders: 1888. The person responsible was never identified, but the character created by the press to fill that gap has become far more famous than any of these five women. For more than a century, newspapers have been keen to tell us that “the Ripper” preyed on prostitutes. Not only is this untrue, as historian Hallie Rubenhold has discovered, but it has prevented the real stories of these fascinating women from being told. Now, in this devastating narrative of five lives, Rubenhold finally sets the record straight, revealing a world not just of Dickens and Queen Victoria, but of poverty, homelessness, and rampant misogyny. They died because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time—but their greatest misfortune was to be born women.

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper

Community & Culture

Mariner Books

The French Lesson (Henrietta Lightfoot)

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Thrillers & Suspense

TW Adult

Georgian England, 1789. Under a cloud of scandal, Henrietta Lightfoot flees her home at Melmouth Park. She has little money and no worthwhile talents, for what use is a neat stitch and a pretty voice outside the drawing room? Without family support, her only hope of survival lies with the dashing but elusive Lord Allenham...In a desperate quest to find him, Henrietta embarks on a journey through London's debauched and glittering underworld, where she discovers more about her own mysterious past than she could have imagined. With the aid of new-found skills at the card table and on the stage, will Henrietta be able to turn her life around to become mistress of her fate?

Mistress of My Fate: By the award-winning and Sunday Times bestselling author of THE FIVE

Literature & Fiction

Genre Fiction

Transworld Publishers

Their marriage had the makings of a fairy tale but ended as one of the most salacious and highly publicized divorces in history.In February 1782, England opened its newspapers to read the details of Sir Richard Worsley vs. George Maurice Bisset, a Criminal Conversation trial in which the aggrieved Sir Richard attempted to sue his wifes lover for an astronomical £20,000 in damages. In the course of the proceedings, the Worsleys scandalous sexual arrangements, voyeuristic tendencies and bed-hopping antics were laid bare.Lady Worsleys Whim is the story of a marriage between two opposing personalities; a stoic, art-collecting empiricist and a passionate romantic. Their tale is driven by the consequences of a terrible error of judgment made at a bath house on a summers afternoon. The aftermath of this whim altered their lives forever. This fascinating story has lain buried in long forgotten newspapers, overlooked pamphlets, yello

Lady Worsley's Whim: The divorce that Scandalised Georgian England by Hallie Rubenhold (2008-12-16)

Chatto&Windus

The Covent Garden Ladies tells the story of Samuel Derrick, Jack Harris, and Charlotte Hayes, whose complicated and colorful lives were brought together by the publication of Harris' List, an infamous guidebook of prostitutes which detailed addresses, physical characteristics and "specialties." The true history of the book is a tragicomicedy motivated by poverty, passionate love, aspiration, and shame. Its telling plunges the reader down the dark alleys of 18th-century London's underworld, a realm populated by tavern owners, pimps, punters, card sharps, and of course, a colorful range of prostitutes and brothel-keepers.

The Covent Garden Ladies: Pimp General Jack & The Extraordinary Story of Harris' List

Tempus

Harris’s List of Covent Garden Ladies was a bestseller of the 18th century, selling 250,000 copies in an age before mass consumerism. An annual "guide book," it detailed the names and "specialities" of the capital’s prostitutes. During its heyday, 1757–1795, Harris’s List was the essential accessory for any serious gentleman of pleasure. Yet beyond its titillating passages lay a glimpse into the lives of those who lived and died by the List’s profits during the Georgian era. Hallie Rubenhold has collected the funniest, ruddiest, and most surreal entries penned by Jack Harris, "Pimp-General-of-All-England" into this book.

Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies: Sex in the City in Georgian Britain

In 1757, a down-and-out Irish poet and a celebrated London courtesan became bound together by the publication of a little book: Harris’s List of Covent Garden Ladies. Hallie Rubenhold tells the story of this salacious publication which detailed the names and "specialities" of the capital’s prostitutes, and became one of the eighteenth century’s most successful and scandalous literary works.

The Covent Garden Ladies: Pimp General Jack and the Extraordinary Story of Harris' List

The History Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Rubenhold, Hallie. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Rubenhold, Hallie

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Rubenhold, Hallie. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Lady Worsley's Whim: An Eighteenth-Century Tale of Sex, Scandal and Divorce

The Lady in Red: An Eighteenth-Century Tale of Sex, Scandal, and Divorce

The Lady in Red: An Eighteenth-Century Tale of Sex, Scandal, and Divorce

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper

The French Lesson (Henrietta Lightfoot)

Mistress of My Fate: By the award-winning and Sunday Times bestselling author of THE FIVE

Lady Worsley's Whim: The divorce that Scandalised Georgian England by Hallie Rubenhold (2008-12-16)

The Covent Garden Ladies: Pimp General Jack & The Extraordinary Story of Harris' List

Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies: Sex in the City in Georgian Britain

The Covent Garden Ladies: Pimp General Jack and the Extraordinary Story of Harris' List