Books by Hallie Rubenhold

If you were drawn to Bridgerton for the scandal and melodrama of Regency London’s high society look no further. Lady Worsley’s Whim is a retelling of true events by the historian and author Hallie Rubenhold. Originally published in 2007, the book—a biography that reads like a novel—gained huge popularity following a 2015 BBC adaptation starring Natalie Dormer. The story centres around the spirited heiress Lady Seymour Dorothy Fleming who is married to the handsome baronet Sir Richard Worsley. Their marriage has the potential to be the stuff of fairy tales, but Sir Richards perversions and Lady Worsley’s free spirit turn out to be a match made in hell—ending in one of the most salacious and highly-publicised divorces in history. Like Bridgerton, this book offers an insider view of Georgian high society that promises to shock even the modern reader with its colourful nature.

From our article Books like Bridgerton

“Hallie Rubenhold, the author of The Five, has researched the lives of these five women absolutely brilliantly. It’s a great piece of detective work into some very obscure sources…She really disproves what the ‘Ripperologist’ literature says about the victims and recovers these women’s lives with a good deal of sympathy. It’s a moving book. It’s humane, it’s scholarly, and it challenges, from a feminist position, a whole library of books on Jack the Ripper.” Read more...

The Best History Books: the 2020 Wolfson Prize shortlist

Richard Evans, Historian