Hen, Mistress of Mayhem
A Portrait of Henrietta Moraes
Published on 2. April 2026
Book
Hardback
978-1-83705-109-0 (ISBN)
Description
FEATURED IN THE SUNDAY TIMES AND IN LITERARY REVIEW
Henrietta Moraes first discovered Soho when she was eighteen - or so she tells us. Her favourite sport was social climbing (heaven knows she enjoyed the exercise) and she was good at it, going to all the right parties and simply gate-crashing others. From the summit of the 1950s bohemian scene she surveyed the life and times of those who broke all the rules, such as the artists Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon (for whom she became a muse). But that's not all she did - as a key counter-culture figure in the 1960s Chelsea Set, no other woman was more indefatigable in becoming a bohemian legend.
Through Hen, you'll learn how to steal your best friend's boyfriend; enchant and ensnare a husband; blossom into a magnificent muse; dress like a comic book superhero; become a connoisseur of every illicit drug known to medical science and dose a Rolling Stones concert with them; join the caravan set and head along the gypsy trail in search of the Holy Grail, before rematerialising as the minder for a mind-blowing pop icon...
Along the way you'll indulge in the gentle art of cadging drinks; the feline felony of cat burglary; the canny craft of charity shop shoplifting and the haphazardness of steamy sex in second-hand bookshops.
Hen, Mistress of Mayhem takes you to the epicentre of Soho's Golden Age; stage by stage it forms a complete guide to a hell-raising companion.
Henrietta Moraes first discovered Soho when she was eighteen - or so she tells us. Her favourite sport was social climbing (heaven knows she enjoyed the exercise) and she was good at it, going to all the right parties and simply gate-crashing others. From the summit of the 1950s bohemian scene she surveyed the life and times of those who broke all the rules, such as the artists Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon (for whom she became a muse). But that's not all she did - as a key counter-culture figure in the 1960s Chelsea Set, no other woman was more indefatigable in becoming a bohemian legend.
Through Hen, you'll learn how to steal your best friend's boyfriend; enchant and ensnare a husband; blossom into a magnificent muse; dress like a comic book superhero; become a connoisseur of every illicit drug known to medical science and dose a Rolling Stones concert with them; join the caravan set and head along the gypsy trail in search of the Holy Grail, before rematerialising as the minder for a mind-blowing pop icon...
Along the way you'll indulge in the gentle art of cadging drinks; the feline felony of cat burglary; the canny craft of charity shop shoplifting and the haphazardness of steamy sex in second-hand bookshops.
Hen, Mistress of Mayhem takes you to the epicentre of Soho's Golden Age; stage by stage it forms a complete guide to a hell-raising companion.
Reviews / Votes
'Moraes lived like a flame: vividly, destructively, and ultimately self-destructively. There are people of whom it is impossible to approve, yet impossible not to be glad they lived.' -- Matthew Parris 'Henrietta was a delightfully disturbing mixture of the devil and the divine. Her force of nature lives in this book.' -- Maggi Hambling 'lively and almost terminally erratic' -- <i>LITERARY REVIEW</i>More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Stroud
United Kingdom
Illustrations
Illustrations, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 241 mm
Width: 166 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
518 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-83705-109-0 (9781837051090)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
04/2026
The History Press Ltd
€20.99
Available for download
Persons
DARREN COFFIELD studied at Goldsmiths College, Camberwell School of Art, and the Slade School of Art in London, where he received his Bachelor of Fine Art in 1993. He has exhibited widely in the company of many leading artists, including Damien Hirst, Howard Hodgkin, Patrick Caulfield and Gilbert and George. In 2014, his contributions were recognised by '100 Painters of Tomorrow'. He is the author of Tales from the Colony Room: Soho's Lost Bohemia (2020) and Queens of Bohemia (2024).