Authors: Maria McCann
Uncle
pawnbroker
Upright Man
gang leader
wap
fuck
ware hawk!
look sharp!
ware trap
watch out for the police
warm(er)
(more) sexually explicit/arousing
whelp
young man (literally ‘puppy’)
whipping culls
customers seeking flagellation
Wilkes, John
republican, political writer and libertine
wiper
handkerchief
wolf
cancerous tumour
wrapper
1) dress made by winding fabric about the body 2) a dressing-gown
Zedland
the West Country
Select bibliography
To acknowledge one’s sources is not to present oneself as a historian.
Arnold, Catherine
City of Sin
Ashton, John
The History of Gambling in England
Baines, Paul
The Long Eighteenth Century
Boswell, James
Journals
Boswell, James
The Life of Johnson
Brumwell, S. and Speck, W. A.
Cassell’s Companion to Eighteenth-Century Britain
Burnett, John
A History of the Cost of Living
Cahill, Katherine
Mrs Delany’s Menus, Medicines and Manners
Clarke, Norma
Queen of the Wits
Cockayne, Emily
Hubbub
Colquhoun, Kate
Taste
Cruickshank, Dan
The Secret History of Georgian London
Cunnington, C. W. and P. C.
Handbook of English Costume in the Eighteenth Century
Douglas, Alfred
The Tarot
Equiano, Olaudah
The Interesting Narrative
George, M Dorothy
London Life in the Eighteenth Century
Grose, Francis
Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue
Harvey, A. D.
Sex in Georgian England
Horn, Pamela
Flunkeys and Scullions
Jacobs, Harriet
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Moore, Wendy
Wedlock
Olsen, Kirstin
Daily Life in Eighteenth-Century England
Peakman, Julie
Lascivious Bodies
Picard, Liza
Dr Johnson’s London
Porter, Roy
London: A Social History
Porter, Roy
English Society in the Eighteenth Century
Rubenhold, Hallie
Harris’s List of the Covent Garden Ladies
Rubenhold, Hallie
The Covent Garden Ladies
Russell, Gillian ‘Faro’s Daughters’ (article) Sands, Mollie
Invitation to Ranelagh
Sitwell, Edith
Bath
Smith, Virginia
Clean
Thomas, Hugh
The Slave Trade
Vickery, Amanda
Behind Closed Doors
Vickery, Amanda
The Gentleman’s Daughter
Wardroper, John
Lovers, Rakes and Rogues
Warner, Jessica
Craze
White, Jerry
London in the Eighteenth Century
Wroth, W. W. and A. E.
The London Pleasure Gardens of the Eighteenth Century
The story of Fortunate’s capture and enslavement draws upon the account given in Olaudah Equiano’s
The Interesting Narrative
. That the word ‘fortunate’ is one possible translation of ‘Olaudah’ is pure coincidence, since my character took shape, complete with name, long before I came across that book. The coincidence itself seemed fortunate, so I have left the name as it is.
Betsy-Ann’s songs ‘Sometime I am a butcher bold’ (chapter 4) and ‘Moll of the Wood’ (chapter 15) are authentic; the other songs are of my own invention.
Acknowledgements
Thanks are due to my agent Annette Green (as ever) and to all at Faber, particularly my editor Sarah Savitt whose clarity has been invaluable.
An earlier incarnation of this book included much more material on both folk music and gambling. I am grateful to C. J. Bearman who patiently answered my queries on Cecil Sharp, and to Professor Gillian Russell of the Australian National University who responded generously to an email from an unknown writer, supplying me with useful materials on eighteenth-century women gamblers. Historical errors and deliberate distortions are of course my own responsibility.
My friends and fellow writers of the RABS group are an unending source of support, encouragement and the occasional bucket of cold water when I need it. My thanks and love to you all.
Lastly I should like to thank Ruth Borthwick of the Arvon Foundation, whose offer of work at a crucial time enabled me to complete this novel. May Arvon go from strength to strength.
About the author
Maria McCann is the author of
As Meat Loves Salt
(Fourth Estate, 2001) which was an
Economist
Book of the Year and
The Wilding
(Faber, 2010) which was longlisted for the Orange Prize and chosen for the Richard and Judy Book Club. She has also contributed to various anthologies, most recently to
Why Willows Weep
(2011) and
Beacons
(2013).
By the same author
As Meat Loves Salt
The Wilding
First published in 2013
by Faber and Faber Ltd
Bloomsbury House
74–77 Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DA
This ebook edition first published in 2013
All rights reserved
© Maria McCann, 2013
The right of Maria McCann to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
ISBN 978–0–571–29760–3
Table of Contents