The French Lesson

Rivetting, atmospheric novel of female espionage and revenge set in the French Revolution by the Sunday Times No. 1 bestselling and highly acclaimed author of THE FIVE and COVENT GARDEN LADIES'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

“Henrietta Lightfoot's exploits in Revolutionary France are irresistible. She's a heroine you can't put down.”

"" LUCY WORSLEY "A deliciously dark novel" Red Magazine "Georgette Heyer meets Flashman ... A gleefully modern retelling of a juicy chapter in history" The Times "Rubenhold unfolds a complicated plot with great dexterity, brilliantly evoking a society in which traditional bonds are being sundered." Sunday Times "'Compelling and operatic ... Reads like a modern thriller'" SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE, author of The Romanovs

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

Paris, 1792 It was a head, but one so bloodied, so rolled in filth, that it was scarcely recognisable but for its long red curls. It had been stuck on a pike like a lump of bread upon a toasting fork ... Henrietta Lightfoot, a young Englishwoman, trips on her silk gown as she runs for her life along the bloodstained streets of revolutionary Paris. She finds refuge in the opulent home of Grace Dalrymple Elliott, the city's most celebrated courtesan. But heads are rolling, neighbours fear neighbours, and masters whisper before servants. As the sound of the guillotine echoes outside, within the gilded salons of high society Henrietta becomes a pawn in a vicious power game. Seductive and finely plotted, this tale of one woman's flight through the bloodiest times in history resonates with a sense of modern revolution and tyranny. 'Georgette Heyer meets Flashman . . . A gleefully modern retelling of a juicy chapter in history' The Times 'Rubenhold unfolds a complicated plot with great dexterity, brilliantly evoking a society in which traditional bonds are being sundered' Sunday Times 'Compelling, operatic, modern' SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE, author of The Romanovs

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