Impostress: The Dishonest Adventures of Sarah Wilson

Meet Sarah Wilson, a real life Moll Flanders of the eighteenth century - 'the greatest impostress of the present age' - who created a remarkable series of lives for herself on both sides of the Atlantic
Imposter, fraudster, rogue. Beginning in her late teens, Sarah Wilson traveled England on wits alone, often reinventing herself as an aristocrat’s daughter and twisting her tale to match. She fooled the rich, the poor and the powerful into providing her with food, shelter, money and expensive clothes. Eventually caught and transported to America, she escaped her new master and resumed her dishonest scheming. This time it was the ruse of a lifetime: she became the honored guest of the rich plantation owners of the deep south as Queen Charlotte’s sister. So successful was her deception that she remained the queen's sister: she was in Boston during the Tea Party, and gained the support of various New England puritans and of active supporters of the American Revolution. Based on evidence in contemporary documents, here R. J. Clarke captures the atmosphere of the era and takes the reader along to experience Sarah's dishonest but remarkable adventures.