Overview

First published in hardback by Sutton in 2006, this revised and updated paperback reprint by Paul Chambers tells the true story of sexual obsession, conspiracy, alleged murder and ghosts in Georgian England. The story takes place in London in the 1760s and became a national scandal. A young woman with a fortune, Frances Lynes, eloped to London with her dead sister's husband, William Kent. They were cut off from the Lynes family and lodged in a house owned by notorious drunk Richard Parsons. When Frances Lynes suddenly and mysteriously died, her alleged ghost began to haunt the house, communicating messages that Kent had murdered and robbed her. The case became a cause celebre of the time and was hotly debated in the newspapers and among the entire London populace. So much so that 'Cock Lane' became a byword for such cases and Oliver Goldsmith wrote a play about the case. Popular sentiment was whipped up by sensationalist press stories about the supernatural happenings. The house became besieged by the public and visitors included the celebrities of the day including Horace Walpole. Kent was on the point of being arrested and hanged for the murder when the artistic and literary world entered the fray and Dr Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith and William Hogarth were instrumental in confronting the Cock Lane ghost and revealing the true story. Not only does this story keep the reader gripped until the denouement, with its cast of eccentric characters, all meticulously researched, but it is also a wonderful portrait of life in London in the 1760s.

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9780711036291

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Paul Chambers is a writer and television producer. His previous publications include Medieval Genealogy, Bedlam, A Sheltered Life: The Unexpected History of the Giant Tortoise, Body 115, Murder Most Foul, Jumbo the Elephant

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