'Summers relays all the most succulent scandals from the life of the famous womaniser ... Cataloguing his liaisons with a succession of nuns, slaves, aristocrats, prostitutes, wives, virgins, cross-dressers and performers, Summers reveals a contradictory character who relished every challenge and tilted at taboos ... The cases of fraud are fun to read. They sit alongside his daring prison breaks as the actions of an adventurer and we snicker at the gullibility of his dupes' Daily Telegraph

Judith Summers is the author of four novels and two non-fiction books, The Empress of Pleasure and the prize-winning Soho, A History of London's Most Colourful Neighbourhood. Born and brought up in London, she studied Fine Art in Bristol and Manchester, and trained as a film editor with the BBC. After becoming a tourist guide, she discovered a passion for historical research. She has written widely on London, and lives in north London.