189 reviews for:

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

Hallie Rubenhold

3.65 AVERAGE

stone_cold_kat's review against another edition

3.5

informative medium-paced

motherofladybirds's review against another edition

3.0

informative

rosehw's review against another edition

2.75

informative slow-paced

hannah_clevett's review against another edition

2.0

informative slow-paced

ellie_cripps's review

3.0

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This is an interesting book about a group of people that aren't explored nearly enough in our other history books, but unfortunately Hallie Rubenhold's prose and descriptions of the women that form the main focus of the book really put me off. I get the sense, from the new introduction in the audiobook and especially having read her later work The Five, that she knows this and wishes she had treated her suspects with a little more sympathy, but it still felt jarring.
It's an era of complete hypocrisy and some true evil, so I'm still glad I took the time to read this one.

aurelia2's review against another edition

3.0

challenging dark informative sad slow-paced

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Mostly concerned with three biographies surrounding Harris' List, this gave a really good grounding of the period, it was obvious from the details the author was well informed, but it was very accessible. I found the section on the list, and the women mentioned, the most interesting, but I can see that it needed the larger narrative framework of the three main people to keep momentum. 

teatimewithliam's review against another edition

3.25

dark informative reflective slow-paced

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Started this because i adored the tv shoe Harlots. I didn't enjoy this as much as I thought I would. The chapters about the women themselves were very interesting and I was engaged by their backgrounds and how they maneuvered amongst their upper class clientele. 

However, the earlier chapters about (for want of a better word) their pimps...I was less interested in. 

heylois's review against another edition

4.0

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

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(Writing this review a while after reading so might not be totally accurate)
Didn’t enjoy this one as much as The Five! I don’t know why but at times it came across a little judging but I don’t think this was intentional given the author and having heard her on interviews and in podcasts.

Still a great read for a time in history that we don’t seem to talk about very much so worth picking up.

dawnradda's review against another edition

3.5

informative medium-paced

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Interesting but not as good as The Five 

booklifer's review against another edition

3.0

informative slow-paced