# The Smart

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![The Smart](https://quivercdn.com/covers/vintage/sarah-bakewell/the-smart_978-00-9954-679-5.jpg?v=2026-04-22%2013%3A52%3A04)

- Book: [The Smart](https://www.bookquiver.com/sarah-bakewell/the-smart) ([The Smart.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/sarah-bakewell/the-smart.md))
- Authors: [Sarah Bakewell](https://www.bookquiver.com/sarah-bakewell)
- Publisher: Vintage
- ISBN: 978-00-9954-679-5
- Pages: 320
- Published: 2009-11-03
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: Softcover

## Description

The Smart is a true drama of eighteenth-century life with a mercurial, mysterious heroine. Caroline is a young Irishwoman who runs off to marry a soldier, comes to London and slides into a glamorous life as a high-class prostitute, a great risk-taker, possessing a mesmerising appeal. In the early 1770s, she becomes involved with the intriguing Perreau twins, identical in looks but opposite in character, one a sober merchant, the other a raffish gambler. They begin forging bonds, living in increasing luxury until everything collapses like a house of cards - and forgery is a capital offence. A brilliantly researched and marvellously evocative history, The Smart is full of the life of London streets and shots through with enduring themes - sex, money, death and fame. It bridges the gap between aristocracy and underworld as eighteenth-century society is drawn into the most scandalous financial sting of the age.