Moll Cutpurse: Her True History Book

Although I only gave this three stars, I would recommend it. It's a sprawling romp set in Elizabethan England, about the historical figure Mary Frith, known as Moll or the Roaring Girl. Told in various voices, the novel centres around Bridget, Moll's lover and companion. It's a very picaresque novel, full of incident, with limited characterisation or plot. It's very entertaining to read, and the incidents and motivations feel authentically Elizabethan. At times, it felt like it could have been a much longer book, because more time was needed to characterize Moll, Bridget, and the other major characters. The relationship between Moll and Bridget is also established very quickly, and I feel there should have been more emotional development. But that being said, this is tremendous fun to read, and it's wonderful to find a lesbian romance set in this period.