Book description
'Sarah Bakewell has written a scholarly biography that reads like a
detective novel with a historical setting ... full of sharp
pen-portraits, lively asides and quirky details ... every bit as
colourful and enjoyable as the title suggests' Independent
The Smart is a true drama of eighteenth-century life with a
mercurial, mysterious heroine. Caroline is a young Irishwoman who runs
off to marry a soldier, comes to London and slides into a glamorous
life as a high-class prostitute, a great risk-taker, possessing a
mesmerising appeal. In the early 1770s, she becomes involved with the
intriguing Perreau twins, identical in looks but opposite in
character, one a sober merchant, the other a raffish gambler. They
begin forging bonds, living in increasing luxury until everything
collapses like a house of cards - and forgery is a capital offence.
A brilliantly researched and marvellously evocative history, The
Smart is full of the life of London streets and shot through with
enduring themes - sex, money, death and fame. It bridges the gap
between aristocracy and underworld as eighteenth-century society is
drawn into the most scandalous financial sting of the age.
