I loved Mistress of Fate and am looking forward to reading The French Lesson. Any timeframe for when I nay be able to purchase it in the USA?

Hi Sasha, I would encourage you to read my book as the TV drama does differ in a number of ways. With regard to the 27 lovers, there is no absolute proof that there were 27 lovers, in fact, the source for this number comes from a letter written by Horace Walpole who was one of the era’s most atrocious gossip mongers. In the course of my research I was only able to trace a handful, and all of these relationships seem to have been initiated by Seymour, not by Sir Richard. Lady Worsley had numerous affairs and Sir Richard either just let her get on with it or actively encouraged his friends (like Deerhurst and Bisset) to have sex with her while he watched. Proof of his voyeurism appears in the trial transcripts and was widely discussed in the press after the trial. In fact, although Lady Worsley was very much trapped in her marriage by the legalities and conventions of her era, she was not passive in her relationship at all. She even attempted to elope with Deerhurst before she met Bisset. A much fuller picture of the dark complexities of their marriage is discussed in my book.

Hi, I understand your point of view and I think it’s valid for women to look to a woman in the past who stood up for herself and admire her strength and determination in doing what she did and going against the grain. Lady Worsley was all of that, but we’re applying the term ‘feminist’ to her retrospectively and we must tread carefully here. The question is, what does ‘feminist’ mean to us in the 21st century? It’s very easy to arrive at a set of assumptions that are uniquely 21st century and then assume people in the past also adhered to these ideals, notions and aspirations, when more often than not they didn’t. I would also offer a caveat which is that the Lady Worsley depicted on screen and the ‘real’ Lady Worsley (who I write about) were different people. I would urge you to read my book before deciding exactly who and what she was.

Hi Bryan,
Naturally there were always going to be some differences between a 90 min TV version of Lady Worsley’s story and the historical telling of it in my book. It’s very difficult to distill the complexities of the Worsleys’ tale into that medium and limited frame of time. You’ll see in my book that neither Lady Worsley nor Sir Richard are entirely sympathetic, which is what makes them fascinating. You’ll also find that Lady Worsley was an active and willing participant in her sexual encounters with other men and she continued to carry on her affairs with them even when Sir Richard wasn’t present. She also tried to elope with Lord Deerhurst long before she met Bisset.

Hi Kaitlin,
Thanks for getting in touch. The French Lesson will be published in the UK in March 2016. Due to various issues with my North American publisher a US/Canadian publication date has not yet been determined, however you should be able to buy the French Lesson from a UK distributor when it’s available.

Lady Worsley was ultimately not a very sympathetic character and certainly, in her attitude to doing whatever her husband desired sexualy, was no feminist – as we understand the term today, at least. You could say she was ‘liberated’ in that she seemed to have little regard for convention and the confidence to go against it. However if ‘she’ had been a ‘he’, would there have been such focus on the bedroom in this telling of the tale? But perhaps there wouldn’t have been a scandal in that case.

I can’t help feeling that this was glossy sexed-up version of her life and some way from the whole truth. None the less interesting for it but perhpas not as rounded as suggested in your article.