Charlotte: The True Story of Scandal and Spectacle in Georgian London [Paperback]

`Precocious, gifted, charismatic and eccentric, Charlotte
illuminated the C18 with the fleeting brightness of a shooting star ...
remarkable'

'Precocious, gifted, charismatic, and eccentric, Charlotte Charke illuminated the eighteenth century with the fleeting brightness of a shooting star. Kathryn Shevelow has written a remarkable book which admirably captures this most elusive of social rebels' Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana 'Shevelow writes well and wittily, and captures the gamut of the eighteenth-century theatrical world, from its heights in Drury Lane - which went to Charlotte's bewigged head - to its depths among rural travelling players, where she ended up as a result' Sunday Times 'Charlotte is a remarkably learned and even more remarkably entertaining history - not only of a truly fascinating and startlingly-original woman, but also of her times and culture. Kathryn Shevelow brings to life the madness, absurdity and baseness of 18th-century Britain, and the recreates for modern readers the fascinating peculiarities of its theater world. This is a brilliant piece of popular history' David Liss, author of A Conspiracy of Paper 'Quite the spectacle was Charlotte: actress, cross-dresser and general hell-raiser' Washington Post

`Shevelow writes well and wittily, and captures the gamut of the
eighteenth-century theatrical world' Sunday Times

`A fascinating account ... should win Charlotte the multitude of
admirers she deserves'

`Quite the spectacle was Charlotte: actress, cross-dresser and
general hell-raiser'

Born into the famous, sometimes scandalous, theatrical clan of Colley Cibber, Charlotte was an actress destined for greatness. But she rebelled, and started dressing as a man. When her father disowned her, her life became an adventure extending from the pinnacles of London society to its dangerous depths. Kathryn Shevelow captures Charlotte - an artist and a survivor - in all her guises, from her time among the leading lights of glamorous Drury Lane Theatre to her trials as a strolling player and puppeteer, to her comeback as author of one of the first autobiographies written by a woman. "Charlotte" is the captivating story of an extraordinary woman, set against the rich tapestry of London's colorful theatre world, its history and savage political battles.

For lovers of classics such as Tom Jones, Moll Flanders, or
Vanity Fair, here is a heroine as irresistible as Moll or Becky Sharp. But
Charlotte Charke (1713-1760) actually lived. And that was only the
beginning ...

Charlotte is winner of the Theatre Library Association's Freedley Award

A specialist in eighteenth-century British literature and culture, Kathryn Shevelow has been an award-winning professor at the University of California in San Diego for twenty years. She lives in Solana Beach, California.