MOLL CUTPURSE

Mary Frith and the Making of a Legend

By: Alana Sanchez

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

London made her notorious. History made her a legend.

In the crowded, dangerous streets of early modern London, Mary Frith defied every rule meant to keep women silent, modest, and unseen. Known to the city as Moll Cutpurse, she strode through taverns and theatres in men’s clothing, smoked in public, moved among thieves and brokers, and scandalized authorities who could not decide whether to punish her, fear her, or profit from her fame.

But Moll was more than a criminal curiosity. She was a public woman in a world that wanted women contained. Condemned by moralists, rebuked by the church, seized by the stage, and transformed into legend while still alive, she became one of the most unforgettable figures in London’s underworld.

MOLL CUTPURSE: Mary Frith and the Making of a Legend is a richly atmospheric history of crime, gender, spectacle, and survival. Moving through the streets, courts, theatres, and punishments of seventeenth-century London, this book uncovers the real woman behind the myth — and the city that made her.