Kate Pullinger's Governor General's Literary Award-winning novel about a lady, her maid and the man that comes between them.
Lady Duff Gordon is the toast of Victorian London society but when she contracts tuberculosis, she and her devoted lady's maid, Sally, set sail for Egypt and an entirely new life. Sally and Lady Duff Gordon thrive in their new and exotic surroundings, learning Arabic, adopting native dress and visiting the tombs of ancient pharaohs.
Soon, Sally adapts to this new world and to the heady freedom she's never known before. But freedom and romance are luxuries a lady's maid can ill afford. When Sally yearns for more than her status entitles her to, she receives a brutal reminder that she is the mistress of nothing.

Kate Pullinger was born in Vancouver, and now lives in London. She is the author of TINY LIES, a collection of short stories, and several novels, including the Governor General Award-winning The Mistress of Nothing. She collaborated with Jane Campion on the novel of the film The Piano, and has written for film, television and radio. She teaches creative writing and new media at De Montfort University.

Kate Pullinger's profile page

Winner of the Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction
National Bestseller

"A highly sensual evocation of place and time. The Mistress of Nothing explores the subtle complexities of power, race, class and love during the Victorian era." —Governor General's Literary Award jury citation

"Tantalizing. . . . Sally's observations bring this lost world to life." —The New York Times Book Review

"The remarkable life of Lucie Duff Gordon deserves renewed attention, and Pullinger's novel about this unconventional literary figure's even more unconventional maid . . . rings utterly true." —The Globe and Mail

"Pullinger's narrative flows as smoothly as the Nile whose density and odour she seductively evokes. This is an absorbing and gripping tale." —The Independent (UK)