Summary

"It is a fact not generally known that William Thackeray based the heroine Becky Sharp from Vanity Fair on the notorious aristocrat and sometime courtesan Henrietta Lightfoot, whose scandalous memoirs have recently been discovered in an attic..." Henrietta was born the illegitimate daughter of the 4th Earl of Stavourley and his mistress, the courtesan Kitty Kennedy. When her lover, Baron Allenham mysteriously vanishes, Henrietta embarks on a quest to find her one true love. Her epic journey takes her through a Europe in turmoil, from the elite town houses and theatres of London, to the hedonistic Palais Royale in Paris, just as the city implodes into revolution. Henrietta is on the road to maturity and power as she evolves from innocent, frightened victim into cunning mistress of the world...