190 reviews for:

The Covent Garden Ladies: Pimp General Jack & The Extraordinary Story of Harris' List

Hallie Rubenhold

3.65 AVERAGE

acascadeofbooks's review against another edition

4.0

informative medium-paced

sophies_little_library's review

3.0

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I think I would have enjoyed this book more if I hadn’t been so blown away by ‘The Five’, and had instead read this first. This is an entertaining overview of prostitution in late eighteenth-century London. Particularly engrossing were the excerpts from Harris’ List, a guide to women in the area; the three main characters of this narrative are all linked to it. However, I found the author’s real strength, used to great effect in ‘The Five’, is in thorough research into the lives of the unrepresented, and I don’t think these three characters demonstrate this to the fullest. All of them end their lives in relative prosperity and/or social privilege, and I was left wondering about the women of the list who aren’t so lucky: who rise and fall and whose realities live between its lines. Luckily, she fills in these gaps in her later books, but this one left me wanting more.

bookish_arcadia's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

laurene99's review against another edition

3.75

informative reflective medium-paced

saralouisemarsbar's review against another edition

4.25

dark informative sad medium-paced

burntout_bookworm's review against another edition

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Hallie Rubenhold may be becoming my favourite non-fiction writer!!! I had to pick this up after loving the writing style within The Five and this did not disappoint. Rubenhold has an uncanny way of presenting the facts of the past with the readability of fiction. I will often recommend Rubenhold has amazing books for those who are interested in non-fiction but get too overwhelmed with harsh facts and overcomplicated words been thrown at them. I hadn't previously read up on this subject but this book has made me want to understand the lives of these people in more detail. Would highly recommend!

rumpledpumpkin's review against another edition

3.0

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An interesting look at the history of those who wider society would prefer to forget. It was an intriguing concept but an unsurprising read as it went on. I would’ve liked to have learned more about the women involved rather than the men who created the list but I suppose that’s the problem - very little was recorded about them other than what Derrick wrote in the list. It did make me reflect on the fact that many of the women on Harris’ list must now have descendants who have no idea about them though!

lebeccar's review against another edition

4.0

informative slow-paced

melissabee's review

3.0

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An interesting book- gives historical context and detailed portraits of the three main characters: a failed poet, a pimp, and a "harlot" (yes, I came here because of the Hulu series). Nevertheless it was a little repetitive and slow sometimes- largely, I think, due to the narrow focus on the three main characters. A broader history might have been more interesting, even if that meant the List itself (and Sam Derrick, whom I found tedious) were less central in the book.

I didn't love the tone. Unlike some other reviewers, I don't think Rubenhold has actual contempt for her subjects. But she does seem to veer back and forth between a desire to imitate the tone of the List and a desire to use a more serious one. I found the former off-putting. Referring to the women as diseased, filthy, immoral, etc, even in a joking way, doesn't go over well when we are told elsewhere that most of them were basically raped as children. And so on. There are also a number of grammatical mistakes and strange sentence constructions.

Nevertheless, I learned a lot, and that's the main reason I picked up the book.

charlottesometimes's review against another edition

3.0

informative medium-paced