{"product_id":"the-scandal-of-the-century","title":"The Scandal of the Century","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA CLANDESTINE AFFAIR. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e‘Whereas the Lady Henrietta Berkeley has been absent from her Father's house since the 20th August last past..\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAN OUTRAGEOUS ELOPEMENT .\u003cem\u003e.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eand is not yet known where she is, nor whether she is alive or dead.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSTOLEN LETTERS, SCHEMING SERVANTS.\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cem\u003eThese are to give notice That whoever shall find her, so that she may be brought back to her Father, the Earl of Berkeley, they shall have 200 Pounds Reward’\u003c\/em\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSEX. SENSATION. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCELEBRITY.\u003c\/strong\u003e This is The Scandal of the Century - and the true story of the author Aphra Behn, who used a shocking love affair to create the first English novel.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn 1682, a young woman in the throes of a passionate affair flees her parents’ home in Surrey to seek a new life in London. A scandal in its own right, but this is no ordinary young woman: Lady Henrietta Berkeley is the daughter of one of England’s most powerful men, and her lover is her own sister’s husband.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAs news of this notorious adulteress spreads, her flight, capture and the lawsuit that follow tear through society as the scandal of the century. To Aphra Behn, England's first professional female writer – herself condemned as a scarlet woman of loose morals – Henrietta’s trial would be more than a source of shock and intrigue: it would inspire her to write Love Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister, an outrageous and bestselling political fiction and arguably the first novel in English literature. Aphra herself is an enigma, the facts about her life continually disputed.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBy revealing the story of these two rebellious and ruthless women, Lisa Hilton's new history offers a surprisingly original theory on the origins of one of England's most celebrated playwrights. Against the backdrop of seventeenth-century England, with its strict traditional conventions of love, duty and identity, \u003cem\u003eThe Scandal of the Century \u003c\/em\u003eshows just how far both women will go to break free.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Lisa Hilton","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45270468886785,"sku":"9781405953320","price":22.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0573\/8600\/8738\/files\/websitecovertemplate-1034.png?v=1717676318","url":"https:\/\/rarebirdsbooks.live\/products\/the-scandal-of-the-century","provider":"Rare Birds Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}