'A vivid tale of a woman born for the stage, stardom and scandal' - Holly Kyte, author of Roaring Girls: The Forgotten Feminists of British History

'One of the most irrepressible women I've come across'- Jane Robinson, author of Ladies Can't Climb Ladders

'I rode on the stage in such style, that the men in front forgot I was a girl, and also forgot to laugh.'

From humble beginnings with the threat of the workhouse looming, Emily Soldene rose to become a star of the London stage and a formidable impresario with her own opera company. The darling of theatreland, she later reinvented herself as a journalist and writer who scandalised the country with her outrageous memoir.

Weaving through the grit and glamour of Victorian music halls and theatres, taking encounters with the Pre-Raphaelites and Charles Dickens in her stride, Emily became the toast of New York and ventured far off the beaten track to tour Australia and New Zealand.

Batten paints a vibrant portrait of an almost forgotten star who trod the boards, travelled the globe and tore up the Victorian rule book.