The Scandal of the Season

I like the occasional romance novel, but have difficulties with many historical romances. I just know too much about history, I guess, so that I find myself pulled out of the story when the fourteenth-century lady is described as wearing velvet and lace. So when I read about a Harvard history professor spending a year or so researching a novel, being quoted as saying that she “wanted to know what s3x was like in the time of Alexandar Pope”, you can bet that I rushed out to find the book.

The Scandal of the Season by Sophie Gee In 1711, a young Alexander Pope sets out for London against his father’s will. He hopes to make a name for himself as a poet; his father remembers all too keenly Catholics being burned in the streets and forced to live at least ten miles outside of the city. Meanwhile, his childhood friends Teresa and Martha Blount are also heading to London for the season, where Teresa hopes that their cousin Arabella, the acclaimed belle of the season, can introduce them to the best in society. The Jacobite rebellion is being plotted, some Catholics supporting a return to a Catholic reign, while others want only to blend in with society. Amid the political turbulence, Alexander watches as Arabella becomes enmeshed in a passionate affair, so shocking that it will become… the scandal of the season. This origin story for The Rape of the Lock is full of intrigues both social and political, and delightful for anyone who enjoyed books like Tracy Chevalier's Girl with a Pearl Earring.