The story had all the elements of melodrama so loved by mid-Victorian readers: a beautiful widow of poor background, a disputed will, betrayal by lawyers, adultery and sexual scandal and the involvement of some of the leading lawyers of the day in a long-running, sensational dispute. It could have been the stuff of a melodramatic novel but in fact it was all true, and it held the public riveted in the 1850s as the scandalous events unfolded in the courtrooms and the newspapers.
Roy Lewis traces the story of the ex-parlourmaid who fought for years for her inheritance, and became a heroine in the eyes of the public, only to fall spectacularly from grace when the details of her private life were exposed.
Roy Lewis traces the story of the ex-parlourmaid who fought for years for her inheritance, and became a heroine in the eyes of the public, only to fall spectacularly from grace when the details of her private life were exposed.
Used availability for Roy Lewis's The Lady and the Lawyers