The impostress: the dishonest adventures of Sarah Wilson

Imposter, fraudster, rogue. Beginning in her late teens, Sarah Wilson travelled England on wits alone, often reinventing herself as an aristocrat's daughter and twisting her tale to match her mark.

She fooled the rich, the poor and the powerful into providing her with food, shelter, money and expensive clothes.

Eventually caught and transported to America, she escaped her new master and resumed her dishonest scheming.

This time it was the ruse of a lifetime: she became the honoured guest of the rich plantation owners of the deep south as Queen Charlotte's sister.

So successful was her deception that she remained the queen's sister: she was in Boston during the Tea Party, and gained the support of various New England puritans and of active supporters of the American Revolution.