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A review by siria
The Covent Garden Ladies by Hallie Rubenhold
3.0
The Covent Garden Ladies explores the careers of three people associated with the notorious "Harris's List", a Who's Who of sex workers in Georgian London: the eponymous pimp who inspired it; Samuel Derrick, its likely first author; and the brothel-owner Charlotte Hayes. Hallie Rubenhold generally does a good job of highlighting just how precarious life was for many people at this time, especially for sex workers.
However, the slightly arch/affected tone of voice Rubenhold adopts here—while clearly a deliberate attempt to echo the eighteenth-century texts she's drawing on—didn't really work for me given how utterly bleak are most of the glimpses we get of the lives of the women included on the List. It was too breezy for the subject matter, and made me feel a bit queasy.
However, the slightly arch/affected tone of voice Rubenhold adopts here—while clearly a deliberate attempt to echo the eighteenth-century texts she's drawing on—didn't really work for me given how utterly bleak are most of the glimpses we get of the lives of the women included on the List. It was too breezy for the subject matter, and made me feel a bit queasy.