With thanks to Net Galley and the Author for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review. I did enjoy this book, though was left with the common historians' disappointment when it came to speculation where detail is scarce. Other than that, though, enjoyed it!

I did find this interesting and easy to read. It tells the story of Kitty Fisher, one of the many courtesans who illuminated Georgian England. However, I feel it tells more about the the era than it does about Miss Fisher. And I was really looking forward to hearing more about Kitty.

Interesting and easy to read. This book tells the story of Kitty Fisher, one of the many courtesans who illuminated Georgian England.

I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

I was intrigued by this
I have heard the name Kitty Fisher but knew absolutely nothing about her

This was fascinating
Well researched

Loved it
I would highly recommend

I was really looking forward to reading this, and I did enjoy it - just maybe not as much as I was hoping for.

The author has clearly done a lot of research, and it was great to read so much detail about Kitty and her life - but there was a lot of speculation used at times to fill in gaps/help the story along. I understand why this was done, as there were periods of time where Kitty's life/activities could not be account for as records had either been lost or were not specific enough to be attributed to her - so therefore speculation is the only option left.

Overall it was an interesting read, and it gives a really insightful snapshot into a time and lifestyle that nowadays is hard to imagine.

'Kitty Fisher' by Joanne Major explores the life of a very famous young woman who you'll have heard of, even if you don't know it.

The premise of this really excited me but ultimately I didn't find it concise or concrete enough to keep my interest. There's a lot of speculation by the author ('Kitty lived here and x lived here so they probably knew each other') and a winding narrative. Rather than dealing exclusively with the main character Joanne Major uses Kitty Fisher as a jumping off point to explore society of the time and the lifestyles of other prominient historical figures. It was definitely an interesting read but a very winding narrative and I was never sure what the 'destination' of the book was.

I love the story of Kitty Fisher and Joanne Major did her justice. This was such a great read where I didn't feel like I was reading non-fiction in the sense of a dry book. Her story was told quite well and I recommend it for people who don't know Kitty very well to begin with as it is a great dive into her life.

I DNFed this fairly early given the glib, judgmental tone taken by the author, particularly towards the subject's experience as a sex worker. It's a complicated topic, one which was done a massive disservice by the author's attitude. There are all kinds of unnecessary and unsupported judgments here, like the idea that Kitty was "possessed of an innate elegancy and modesty" "despite her profession as a courtesan" (those things are... not inherent opposites!) and that "Kitty's childhood was respectable" because "she was no common tradesman's daughter." These classist attitudes and implicit denigration of sex work within the first 10% of the book had me determined there was no need to read further.

Oh, what a shame this is--with more citational care and a better structure, this might have been a good book about the famed Victorian courtesan Kitty Fisher. But instead it's a coyly-written, loosely-connected collection of anecdotes and judgement.

This book gives an inside look into the glamorous but shady and sordid world of 18th century prostitution. Kitty was a well-educated and bright girl who fell into being a 'fallen' woman at a young age. Beautiful and resilient, she managed to become a high-class courtesan, and a fashion leader. Likeable and generous, she was more interested in true love than money, and she gave it all up for love twice...

I found this book a bit confusing at times, because the author went off on tangents, and rivals to Kitty, although her rivalries were interesting! Kitty could certainly be assertive, and stand up for herself. For example, courtesans weren't supposed to enter boxes at the opera, but Kitty did!

I received this free book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
EDITION Hardcover

ISBN 9781399006972

PRICE £20.00 (GBP)

An enjoyable read. For fans of the Bridgerton series and the gossip column of Lady Whistledown this book gives an insight into the real impact of the media and the gossip columns of the Georgian era. This book tells the story behind Kitty Fisher's rise to fame or even infamy in Georgian London and gives an insight into the lives and social standing of women during the period. This is a social commentary into the choices faced by women in an unforgiving society. It is an interesting account of an individuals life and of the love and loss encountered by the young Kitty Fisher. This is a short read and the writer does pose many questions about the life lived by the books title character.

Joanne Major's "Kitty Fisher: The First Female Celebrity" is what, in the olden days, would be called a cautionary tale for young women.
Kitty Fisher was a very beautiful young girl, the apple of her father's eye. He had big plans for his daughter, and though a man of modest means, he did what he had to have her attend a finishing school. All in the hopes of her making an advantageous marriage. This was not to be; instead she became a courtesan.
Her fame (which eventually became her albatross) came via a fall off a runaway horse. Rather than show embarrassment or pain, she got up and laughed as if it was all one big lark. I guess her pluck impressed all who witnessed the fall, because afterwards she was the toast of London society. But it went sour fast. Between tawdry tabloid stories and an unofficial biography that was more flash than substance, Kitty soon became the butt of everyone's joke, little more than a fool in polite society's eyes, albeit a pretty one.
Major details the various attachments Kitty had during her brief 'career'. The least among them was a soldier, the highest one of the sons of King George II. She eventually marries her last lover, but fate stepped in. She had contracted tuberculosis from her previous lover and was now dying. At age 25, Kitty Fisher was no more. She lives on through an old nursery rhyme, and now this book.
An interesting tale, but sometimes the details about other people overwhelmed the story about Kitty. There should be a better balance between Kitty's story and the stories of the people around her. It would do the book a world of good. Still, it is a unique window into the world of high-class prostitution in Georgian-era London.
Thanks to NetGalley, Joanne Major, and Pen & Sword History for this advanced copy, which I voluntarily read and reviewed. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is a meticulously researched book on the life of one of England’s most infamous 18th century courtesans, Kitty Fisher. I stuck it out to 50 %, then, I’m afraid, I gave up. It all became too much detail, too many tangents and history repeating itself over and over again.
IMO, it would be better suited to fiction and a few images, e.g. images of the pleasure gardens at Ranelagh or Kitty’s various dwelling places or even some of her portraits by her friend Joshua Reynolds, would have lightened up this dense tome.

If Major's book, Kitty Fisher: The First Female Celebrity was turned into a reality television series
depicting the lascivious 18th century -- and if time travel could be achieved -- Kitty Fisher would have a hit show called, "Keeping up with Kitty." It would include an extended cast of rival courtesans and other infamous women on Harris's famous list of loose and exciting women about London. Video clips of Kitty's horsing accident in the Mall would have broken the internet, shut TikTok down, gone viral.

The World of Kitty Fisher and women like her, courtesans of Britain's aristocrats and wealthy merchants, with its alcoholic rivers of champagne and deep, rich wine, gluttonous helpings of animal roasts, buckets of gravies, mountains of puddings, and voluptuous flesh in resplendent velvets and silks far outshines the grotesque excesses of our modern times. The ratings of Housewives of Who-Cares-Where and the Bros of Spoilt-Rich-Baby-Daddies would pale to a grey in comparison to a show about Kitty Fisher and her world.

But alas! No such reality shows exists and time travel is still science fiction. Major's book, Kitty Fisher: The First Female Celebrity, however, does give us a tantalizing glimpse into what might appear on the screen. In nine short chapters -- this history book is succinct at 145 pages (minus notes, index, and bibliography) -- Major gives the reader a fleshy, tangible sense of the English sex-fueled 18th Century. The first few chapters give us an overview of Kitty Fisher's world and her personal history. These chapters also chronicle Fisher's rise to fame and the path to her profession. Chapter 4 focuses on one of the most enduring events of her career, her horse accident and discusses the effect of publicity on her life and career. Chapter 5 gives the reader a closer view into the business aspects of courtesan-ship. In a way, we can see clear connections between the influencers of today and the women of this world. The modes in which women like Kitty Fisher monetized themselves is the subject of chapters four and fives. Chapters 6 and 7 examine how Kitty and other courtesans or kept women segued into comfortable and profitable existences for the long term. Marriage, servitude, and dismissal were all possible endings to these women's careers; how did women establish security for themselves? The final two chapters discuss what happened after Kitty Fisher left the stage (and this world) and how she became imbued with a legendary status. Kitty Fisher follows the physical lifetime and historical trajectory of the eponymous subject.

While Kitty Fisher is the central heroine of this prosopography, it includes the tales of many other women with the same vocation and the men who served them, worshipped them, paid for them, kept them, maligned them and took advantage of them. Kitty Fisher allows the reader to envision the full landscape of sex work in this era, from those -- like Fisher -- who proved the exception, to those who proved the rule and have fallen into anonymity.

Their histories and careers, whether illustrious or tragic, forgettable or infamous, reveal an aspect of historical womanhood that is rarely illuminated. The women of Kitty Fisher are far from piteous. Major reveals to us how human they could be, as emotional, youthful, desirous beings. She also shows us how ruthless and powerful they were. These women were not the mere playthings of men, they were businesswomen, shrewd, and canny, educated and intelligent, cognizant of their own agency and unafraid to use it. Of course, patriarchy and its constraints on women were tight around these women, but they learnt how to use the tools and avenues open to them to their own ends. Two of Kitty Fisher's rivals rose above the others of their profession to marry into the aristocracy.

The book also shows the reader the less glamorous outcomes. Some women died in penury, in debt, in the most awful circumstances. Many women faded away into nothingness, used and abused, broken. In this the book is well-balanced, giving the reader a wide view of the landscape.

As Kitty Fisher is a historical biography written for a general audience and not an academic one, it provides little perspective on the wider social, political, imperial, and economic matters of the era. It does not delve into historiography. This is a public-facing cultural history and is more narrowly focused on the individuals and the immediate milieu of their world. The effect makes for pleasurable reading; Kitty Fisher is very accessible in terms of language and prose, their (hi)stories unfold without requiring the reader to have much pre-existing historical knowledge. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this.

Less a look at the idea of celebrity, although Kitty certainly was one, but rather a fascinating look at the means one woman took to secure her future in Georgian England. Kitty made the best choices of a poor selection and was constantly balancing her fame and her respectability. She managed her own celebrity by who she had affairs with, how she was seen in public and with whom, who painted her portraits and how, and she leveraged her celebrity to maintain herself.

Especially horrifying to us today was when, unable to secure one protector to keep her, she agreed to be in the joint keeping of five men who pooled their gambling winnings to give her an allowance and the right to her bed. And sadly, for all her notoriety, men wanted to be seen with her but still saw her as not the sort of woman to marry.

It was hard to know Kitty as a person since she left no letters or diaries, and everything comes from second hand accounts, newspaper articles, gossip columns, satires, and conjecture. We never learned why someone who managed her image so well also never saved for her future. A lot of the look at Kitty’s short life came through the lens of other courtesans of the era and the rhymes and innuendo that have been passed down.

Kitty’s life as a courtesan was a precarious one and, as all celebrities, her fame and power were fleeting. This is a well-researched look at life as a courtesan and in the public eye and might be best read by someone who has a little familiarity with the Georgian era. This makes me want to read this author’s other works about this time period.

This account of perhaps one of the first people who was famous for being famous is a fascinating one. More than a biographical piece, it offers a detailed social history of the time. It highlights the limited options which women had and eloquently describes the impact which the class system had on their lives. A very interesting book which is balanced, well written and clearly well researched.