Life and Death of the Wicked Lady Skelton

Rowland Hughes, Magdalen King-Hall

• Publisher: University Of Hertfordshire Press
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781909291379
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Historical Fiction
• Index: Literature

First published in 1944, Magdalen King-Hall's Life and Death of the Wicked Lady Skelton is a historical novel set in late-seventeenth-century England. It tells the story of Barbara Skelton, a well-born young woman trapped in a loveless marriage, who finds escape from the tedium of her life by leading a double life as a highway robber. Rich in historical detail and high on melodrama, the novel follows Barbara's infamous career of robbery, adultery and murder, without painting her entirely as a monster. Indeed, the novel's status as a bestseller owes much to King-Hall's sympathetic depiction of the frustrations of domestic life for an ambitious, intelligent woman with no means of self-expression.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Author’s Note
• Dedication
• Finis?
• Part I Through a Glass, Darkly
• Part II The Story of Barbara Skelton
• Notes