Women of Pepys’ Diary

by Deborah Swift 3 books in this series

The Women of Pepys’ Diary series retells Restoration London through women who appear in Samuel Pepys’s diary but are usually seen only through his perspective. Pleasing Mr Pepys places Deb Willet and Elisabeth Pepys at the centre; A Plague on Mr Pepys follows Elizabeth Bagwell during the Great Plague; and Entertaining Mr Pepys turns to singer and actress Elizabeth Knepp in the year of the Great Fire.

The trilogy uses documented people and events as the framework for independent fictional lives. Pepys remains an important historical presence, but the books shift attention towards women’s work, marriage, performance, ambition and vulnerability in a city transformed by disease, war, fire and the reopening of the theatres.

Reading order

Books in this series (3 books)

1. Pleasing Mr Pepys

Deborah Swift

4.2(840)

London, 1667. Deb Willet escapes a restrictive aunt by becoming companion to Elisabeth Pepys, wife of the naval administrator and diarist Samuel Pepys. The position promises independence and access to a wider world, but Deb soon discovers that the Pepys household is shaped by Samuel’s ambitions,…

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2. A Plague on Mr Pepys

Deborah Swift

4.2(352)

London, 1665. As plague spreads through the city, Elizabeth ‘Bess’ Bagwell wants her carpenter husband Will to secure advancement through the Navy. Her attempt to cultivate Samuel Pepys as a useful patron exposes her to a relationship in which the balance of power is dangerously unequal,…

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3. Entertaining Mr Pepys

Deborah Swift

4.3(211)

London, 1666. Elizabeth Carpenter, later known as the actress and singer Elizabeth Knepp, enters marriage expecting security but finds her husband Christopher controlling and hostile to her ambitions. A clandestine visit to the theatre reveals a new professional world just as women are beginning to establish…

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