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The Scandalous Lady W
  • Published: 15 January 2026
  • ISBN: 9781529990980
  • Imprint: Transworld Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 336
Categories:

The Scandalous Lady W

An Eighteenth-Century Tale of Sex, Scandal and Divorce

Formats & editions
Paperback
1 Sept 2015
EBook
15 Jan 2026
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Gripping early classic historical biography by the no. 1 Sunday Times bestselling and award-winning author of THE FIVE, THE WOMEN WHO WERE KILLED BY JACK THE RIPPER

BY THE AUTHOR OF THE NO. 1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER AND BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE-WINNER, THE FIVE, THE WOMEN KILLED BY JACK THE RIPPER

'Under her pen, history comes alive' Professor Dame Sue Black
'A fabulous 18th-century tale. Hallie Rubenhold tells it beautifully' Telegraph
'As a historian and storyteller, Rubenhold is in a league of her own' Literary Review
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It was the divorce that scandalised Georgian England...

She was a spirited young heiress. He was a handsome baronet with a promising career in government. Their marriage had the makings of a fairy tale but ended as one of the most salacious and highly publicised divorces in history.

For over two hundred years the story of Lady Worsley, her vengeful husband, and her lover, George Maurice Bisset, lay forgotten. Now Hallie Rubenhold, in her impeccably researched book, throws open a window to a rarely seen view of Georgian England, one coloured by passion, adventure and the defiance of social convention. The Worsley's story, their struggles and outrageous lifestyle, promises to shock even the modern reader.

The book behind the major BBC drama starring Natalie Dormer (Game of Thrones, The Hunger Games, Mockingjay)
  • Published: 15 January 2026
  • ISBN: 9781529990980
  • Imprint: Transworld Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 336
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 Covent Garden Ladies
Story of a Murder
The Five
The French Lesson
Harris's List of the Covent Garden Ladies
Mistress of My Fate
See all

Praise for The Scandalous Lady W

The story of the Worsley divorce has never been revealed before, and Hallie Rubenhold tells it with panache. Her account of the elopement is gripping but this is far more than an 18th-century bodice-ripper. Rubenhold combines narrative skill with historical expertise, and she traces the knife-edge that women walked between social success and public disgrace with subtlety and assurance

SPECTATOR

A fabulous Eighteenth-century tale and Rubenhold tells it beautifully

TELEGRAPH

The Scandalous Lady W takes its subject from a zesty period... Rubenhold is sure-footed in her research... Her special forte is rakes and roués

SUNDAY TIMES

As a historian and a storyteller, Hallie Rubenhold is in a league of her own. She keeps you glued to the very last page when, exhausted, exasperated and elated, you can at last put the book down and get yourself some sleep. The Scandalous Lady W should come with a warning: nothing else in the genre is close to being this good

LITERARY REVIEW