The French Lesson
Hallie Rubenhold(Author)
Doubleday (Publisher)
Published on 21. April 2016
Book
Hardback
368 pages
978-0-385-61889-2 (ISBN)
Description
For fans of TV dramas like 'Victoria', 'Downton Abbey' and 'Versailles'
'A riveting novel of female intrigue, betrayal and revenge in the French Revolution. Read it!' LUCY WORSLEY
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 trips on her silk gown as she runs for her life along the bloodstained streets of revolutionary Paris. She finds refuge in the lavish home of Grace Dalyrmple Elliott, one of the old regime's most powerful courtesans. But heads are beginning to roll. Outside, the guillotine mercilessly claims its victims, while inside society's gilded salons, Henrietta becomes a pawn in a vicious power game. How will she survive in a world where no one can be trusted?
'A gleefully modern retelling of a juicy chapter in history' The Times
'Rubenhold unfolds a complicated plot with great dexterity' Sunday Times
'Compelling, operatic, modern' SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE
'Dark and delicious' Red Magazine
'A riveting novel of female intrigue, betrayal and revenge in the French Revolution. Read it!' LUCY WORSLEY
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 trips on her silk gown as she runs for her life along the bloodstained streets of revolutionary Paris. She finds refuge in the lavish home of Grace Dalyrmple Elliott, one of the old regime's most powerful courtesans. But heads are beginning to roll. Outside, the guillotine mercilessly claims its victims, while inside society's gilded salons, Henrietta becomes a pawn in a vicious power game. How will she survive in a world where no one can be trusted?
'A gleefully modern retelling of a juicy chapter in history' The Times
'Rubenhold unfolds a complicated plot with great dexterity' Sunday Times
'Compelling, operatic, modern' SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE
'Dark and delicious' Red Magazine
Reviews / Votes
"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 *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Transworld Publishers Ltd
Dimensions
Height: 223 mm
Width: 144 mm
Thickness: 32 mm
Weight
491 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-385-61889-2 (9780385618892)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Hallie Rubenhold
The French Lesson
By the award-winning and Sunday Times bestselling author of THE FIVE
E-Book
04/2016
1st Edition
Transworld Digital
€8.99
Available for download
Person
Hallie Rubenhold is a historian and broadcaster and an authority on womens' lives in the 18th century. She has worked as a curator for the National Portrait Gallery and as a university lecturer. Her first novel, Mistress of My Fate was received with great acclaim and her biography, Lady Worsley's Whim, was made into the hit BBC drama The Scandalous Lady W. She lives in London with her husband. Chat with her on Twitter @HallieRubenhold