Praefectus Praetorio
R.I.P. Brother of the Quill
Rebecca and The Bloody Codes
Easily one of my favorite stories. I had long dreamed of writing a story of a poor, innocent country girl coming to London in the 1700s, being arrested for stealing to eat, and then subjected to the harshest punishment and most corrupt exploitation imaginable. This was the first story on which I spent an extravagant amount of time on research to make the long-buried roads and sights of old London Town newly come to life.
Rebecca, the waif from Kent arrives in 1723 in the London of Pope, Fielding, and Hogarth, where the very rich and powerful did whatever they wanted. Unfortunately, she falls into the hands of some of the most famous and depraved persons in the Kingdom, including members of the Royal Family. The city is awash in vice and sin (it was estimated that one in six females was involved in the sex trade!) It is also the age of the "Bloody Codes" which prescribed the death penalty for any theft of 12 pence or more (£5.80 in 2021).
In art and literature, the time was dominated by the ribald and the suggestive, Hogarth's A Harlot's Progress was popular and captured some of the locations in this story. Daniel Defoe, fresh from the runaway success of Robinson Crusoe, published The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders. Henry Fielding was writing The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. Most significant of all is the work which leaves my humble efforts to grovel in the mud, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (popularly known by the protagonist’s name Fanny Hill), published by John Cleland.
I and most readers fell in love with Rebecca as the story progressed. Doing so, you will face the approaching ending with rapt attention and terrifying fear. A visit to Tyburn Tree!
The Archive Cover, by @Madiosi
The Original Thread
https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/threads/rebecca-and-the-bloody-codes.7734/
The Archive Edition
https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/rebecca-and-the-bloody-codes-by-praefectus-praetorio.747/
The Ebook page
Easily one of my favorite stories. I had long dreamed of writing a story of a poor, innocent country girl coming to London in the 1700s, being arrested for stealing to eat, and then subjected to the harshest punishment and most corrupt exploitation imaginable. This was the first story on which I spent an extravagant amount of time on research to make the long-buried roads and sights of old London Town newly come to life.
Rebecca, the waif from Kent arrives in 1723 in the London of Pope, Fielding, and Hogarth, where the very rich and powerful did whatever they wanted. Unfortunately, she falls into the hands of some of the most famous and depraved persons in the Kingdom, including members of the Royal Family. The city is awash in vice and sin (it was estimated that one in six females was involved in the sex trade!) It is also the age of the "Bloody Codes" which prescribed the death penalty for any theft of 12 pence or more (£5.80 in 2021).
In art and literature, the time was dominated by the ribald and the suggestive, Hogarth's A Harlot's Progress was popular and captured some of the locations in this story. Daniel Defoe, fresh from the runaway success of Robinson Crusoe, published The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders. Henry Fielding was writing The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. Most significant of all is the work which leaves my humble efforts to grovel in the mud, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (popularly known by the protagonist’s name Fanny Hill), published by John Cleland.
I and most readers fell in love with Rebecca as the story progressed. Doing so, you will face the approaching ending with rapt attention and terrifying fear. A visit to Tyburn Tree!
The Archive Cover, by @Madiosi
The Original Thread
https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/threads/rebecca-and-the-bloody-codes.7734/
The Archive Edition
https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/rebecca-and-the-bloody-codes-by-praefectus-praetorio.747/
The Ebook page
Crux-forums E-book Library
No: 282 Michele Patri - Public Executions in the Arena - Part 2-2019 For comments visit the original thread: http://www.cruxforums.com/xf/threads/public-executions-in-the-arena.5032/
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