Apologia for my temerity in writing this memoir: I shall not say how, and why, at the age of 15 I became the mistress of the Earl of Craven, because I never had the kind of opportunities that Harriette Wilson wast’d.However, I enjoy’d the patronage of a number of generous suitors, and in particular, at the age of 27 I fell in with a wealthy Northern ironmaster, whose sound financial advice even more than his generosity ensur’d me the means for comfortable living without the need for...

Josiah Ferraby is a wealthy Northern ironmaster, active in civic improvements. It is feared bearing another child will kill his beloved wife Eliza. As he is periodically obliged to go to London, where he is struggling to make the contacts they need to expand and develop their interests, she suggests he takes a mistress there, away from local gossip. He is introduced to the noted courtesan, Madame Clorinda Cathcart…

While the marriages of Lady Hermione and Lady Lucretia Shallock proceed towards favourable consummation, not all existing unions among Clorinda, Dowager Lady Bexbury's circle, are in a happy and settled state. A wedding is planned in less elevated surroundings. Several of the younger single members of the set feel themselves beleaguered by the pressures of Society's Marriage Market. Meanwhile, the repercussions of Miles O'Neill's elopement with the intended bride of Lord Fendersham continu...

Clorinda has successfully brought about a better state of affairs in the household of Lord D-. However, there are still problems in her circle; in particular, there seems something not quite right in the Earl of N-’s establishment…

Clorinda, Lady Bexbury's intimates observe her to be in a strange unwonted mood: like Patience on a monument, she is concealing her unexpected fall into love towards her protegée Leda Hacker. While Olverham and Plumwell have fled abroad in disgrace, the repercussions of their machinations are still felt. The Season has begun, placing exceeding pressures on that most fashionable of modistes, Mamzelle Bridgette. Geoffrey Merrett, well-contented with his somewhat unconventional marriage, is b...

Matters begin to recover from the upheavals created by Rathe's plots and Lotting's malignity. However, unanticipated events bring new sorrows and turmoil. Yet there are also surprising developments and unexpected encounters. New friendships and fresh alliances are made, as well as old friends and acquaintance remet.

Clorinda returns to Town after her supposed sojourn at Carlsbad helping Miss G- out of a pickle. She is now in a loving triad relationship with the F-s, hindered by distance and concerns for their reputation, and has given them her beloved baby daughter Flora to bring up as their own. Can she regain her former position? Will her circle recover from Miss A-'s wild behaviour?

Europe and the world are troubled by revolution and counter-revolution. Cholera is rumoured to be moving westwards once more. Clorinda and her circle are largely taken up with their personal concerns, but nonetheless, in their small ways, diffuse a little benevolence and kindness.

Clorinda has found unexpected new love; this is unsettling to some of her intimates. The upheavals taking place nationally and internationally create unanticipated repercussions about her circle. Matters once thought entirely settled are stirring anew with troubling effect.

Clorinda has brought about a happier state of affairs in the Earl of N-’s family, but fears that this may have earned her the Earl’s enmity. The bad poet Mr W- Y-’s behaviour is becoming increasingly and worryingly erratic. Bets are being laid on the likelihood of Clorinda’s remarriage, and the identity of the groom. There are still a deal of contrivances upon hand.

Shaken by her encounter with the escaped lunatic marquess, Clorinda nonetheless continues upon her social round of visits and house-parties. There are new friends with new troubles, leading to new contrivances…

Matters having fallen out very satisfactorily for the family of the Earl of N-, and with several other problems contrived for, Clorinda embarks upon a round of summer house-parties. But there are troubling sinister undercurrents…