Meet the
New Women of Mayfair
The last decade of the nineteenth century – the fin de siècle – was an exhilarating and unsettling time of rapid change.
At the start of the century, England (for romance fans, let’s call it Jane Austenland) was predominantly rural, and much of modern technology lay far in the future. By its close, most people lived in towns and cities. Telephones, railways, the London Underground, electric light, X-rays, and moving pictures were reshaping daily life, while socialism emerged in Parliament and suffragists stepped up the campaign for votes for women.
When society changes, so do the rules of romance.
The phrase ‘New Woman’ was coined by the Irish writer Sarah Grand in the early 1890s, sparking fierce contemporary debate. My own interpretation is simple: strong, independent women—or, in modern parlance, feminists. The heroines of the New Women of Mayfair series—Isabella Thorpe, Georgia Burrows, and Eleanor Booth—all embody this spirit, approaching suffragism and reform from entirely different perspectives.
All three novels are standalone stories and require no prior knowledge of the period.
For readers curious to explore further, this website features historical background, cast lists, notes on the real historical figures who make an appearance, and, for the truly keen, a reading list of the books I thoroughly enjoyed while researching the period.
Part of the fun of reading Victorian fiction is spotting the occasional anachronism. I have aimed for none, but historical fidelity is always an adventure; if you discover something that troubles you, please do get in touch. Any stubborn errors that slipped through are entirely my own!
Thank you to everyone kind enough to read early drafts: Sarah Wigington, the other Sarah Wigington (you know which one is which!), Breda, Megan, Roxy and Mum.
Thank you also to Bishop’s Tachbrook WI book club, and to my colleagues in Kingston Writers’ Workshop: Deb Thompson, Liz Chettur, Ross Sullivan, Bex Eastwell and Lindsay Virgilio. And to everyone at Leamington Spa’s The Write Club, especially Patrick Kincaid, Russell Allen, Tony Lindsell, Julija Boulton, Graham Buttrick, Amy MacPherson, Erin Minogue, Oscar Stainton, Jen Stewart, Ben Waller, Julie Wareing, Anna Berrington and Cooper Anderson.
Thanks too to the Romantic Novelists' Association (UK) New Writers' Scheme.
And finally, thank you to the organisers and judges of I Am Writing 2026 for recognising Eleanor’s Gamble in both the historical and romance sections.
The cover was designed by 100 Covers.
NDKTY Consulting designed www.ali-murphy.com.
Eleanor's Gamble
Eleanor Booth needs two things from London: a million-pound loan to save her family’s mining venture, and absolute certainty that her embarrassing adolescent crush on Charles Doherty is dead and buried.
Armed with ledgers, sharp wit, and American resolve, Eleanor has no intention of relying on aristocratic patronage.
Georgia's Lesson
Georgia Burrows arrived in London with sharp principles and a disgraced past. Exiled from Cumberland, she takes a post teaching the daughters of privilege in Kensington, throwing herself into the capital’s underground labor and suffrage movements to survive.
The last complication she needs is Lord Jacob Worthing.
Isabella's Misson
Isabella Thorpe has a remedy for everyone’s troubles—except her own.
Sent from Manhattan to Mayfair to give her exasperated father some peace, she takes on the chaotic Braithwaite household with brisk efficiency.
Organising a wayward brother, a rebellious suffragist, and the heir’s ill-advised engagement should be child's play.
