Life and Death of the Wicked Lady Skelton

First published in 1944, Magdalen King-Hall's Life and Death of the Wicked Lady Skelton is a historical novel set in late-seventeenth-century England. It tells the story of Barbara Skelton, a well-born young woman trapped in a loveless marriage, who finds escape from the tedium of her life by leading a double life as a highway robber. Rich in historical detail and high on melodrama, the novel follows Barbara's infamous career of robbery, adultery and murder, without painting her entirely as a monster. Indeed, the novel's status as a bestseller owes much to King-Hall's sympathetic depiction of the frustrations of domestic life for an ambitious, intelligent woman with no means of self-expression.

Rowland Hughes is a Principal Lecturer in English Literature and American Studies at the University of Hertfordshire. He has previously published work on American Literature, and on British and American film. Magdalen King-Hall (1904 – 1971) was an English novelist, journalist and children's fiction writer.