Alice Marlow

Desperate to get away from her oppressive Victorian father, and aroused by her friend Charlotte's ecstatic descriptions of married life, Alice marries a young clergyman. Unfortunately he's more dictatorial than her father is and shows no interest in the sex. When Alice rebels, her husband has her confined in an asylum. Eventually Alice escapes and runs away to London where she's taken in by Mrs Parker, the kindly Madame of a house of ill-repute. With no money to her name, Alice has little choice but to become one of Mrs Parker's girls. She's soon the favourite of magazine publisher Sir Willoughby. He offers her work as a writer, where she draws the attentions Matthew, one of Willoughby'seditors.