London, 1871: Lucie Dumas of Lyon has accepted a stipend from her
former lover and his wife, on condition that she never returns to France; she
will never see her young son again. As the money proves inadequate, Lucie turns
to prostitution to live, joining the ranks of countless girls from continental
Europe who'd come to London in the hope of work in domestic service.
Escaping a Covent Garden brothel for a Magdalen
penitentiary, Lucie finds only another form of incarceration and thus descends
to the streets, where she is picked up by the author Samuel Butler, who sets
her up in her own establishment and visits her once a week for the next two
decades. But for many years she does not even know his name. Based on true
events.
Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/m0yz0V
Katherine Mezzacappa is Irish but currently lives in Carrara, between the Apuan Alps and the Tyrrhenian Sea. She wrote The Ballad of Mary Kearney (Histria) and The Maiden of Florence (Fairlight) under her own name, as well as four historical novels (2020-2023) with Zaffre, writing as Katie Hutton. She also has three contemporary novels with Romaunce Books, under the pen name Kate Zarrelli. The Maiden of Florence was shortlisted for the Historical Writers’ Association Gold Crown award in 2025 and has also been published in Italian.
Katherine’s short fiction has been published in journals
worldwide. She has, in addition, published academically in the field of
19th-century ephemeral illustrated fiction and in management theory. She has
been awarded competitive residencies by the Irish Writers Centre, the Danish
Centre for Writers and translators and (to come) the Latvian Writers House.
Katherine also works as a manuscript assessor and as a reader and judge for an
international short story and novel competition. She has in the past been a
management consultant, translator, museum curator, library assistant, lecturer
in History of Art, sewing machinist and geriatric care assistant. In her spare
time she volunteers with a second-hand book charity of which she is a founder
member.
She is a member of the Society of Authors, the Historical Novel Society, the Irish Writers Centre, the Irish Writers Union, Irish PEN / PEN na hÉireann and the Romantic Novelists Association, and reviews for the Historical Novel Review. She is lead organiser for the Historical Novel Society 2026 Conference in Maynooth, Co. Kildare.
Katherine has a first degree in History of Art from UEA, an M.Litt. in Eng. Lit. from Durham and a Masters in Creative Writing from Canterbury Christ Church.
Author Links:
Website: https://katherinemezzacappa.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katherinemezzacappafiction/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katmezzacappa/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/katmezzacappa.bsky.social
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Katherine-Mezzacappa/author/B0B8KJQ7GQ
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22717547.Katherine_Mezzacappa
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