num_pages: 308
description: In the popular tradition of Sara, Brian Cleeve follows the fortunes of Kate, a beautiful young actress orphaned in France during the Revolution, who must find her way in the rough-and-tumble world of the London variety theater during the turbulent Napoleonic Wars.Though Kate Herriott had escaped from a French prison, endured a near-fatal brush with bloodthirsty "citizen" mobs and made her way back to London, the odds against her looked staggering. Alone, her English halting, only a small hoard of golden guineas to sustain her, Kate finds herself in the slumland of late 18th century London where servitude and beggary are all that remain for children too thin to be whores.But Kate is nothing if not determined, and her longing to follow her mother's profession as a tragic actress sees her first as an orange seller in the rundown Parnassus Theatre. Her world is fragile, however, for Kate's illegal entry into England soon becomes known to "The Squire," ominous lord of the London Underworld, who capitalizes on her terror of being deported to France and makes her a pawn in his complex clandestine network.At first Kate's assignments are routine, but The Squire's ambitions for her are bolder and she is soon embroiled in an ambitious and perilous smuggling venture. Captured and imprisoned in Newgate, Kate, the consummate survivor, faces the loss of her first love -- and the challenge of her life.Set against the rich, highly colored tapestry of London's theater and underworld, Kate traces Kate Herriott's triumphant odyssey and transformation from ragged child of the streets to one of the foremost actresses of her day.
language: English
title: Kate
titlecomplete: Kate
ratings_count: 1
publisher: Berkley