Step into the lamp-lit, pickpocket-haunted streets of eighteenth-century London, where the gallows casts its shadow and a quick-witted beauty named Madame Flirt plays a dangerous game of love and survival. Charles Edward Pearce's rollicking historical romance takes its inspiration from John Gay's immortal ballad opera The Beggar's Opera and turns its most tantalizing minor figure into the heroine of her own thrilling story. This edition presents the complete, unabridged original text exactly as first published, accompanied by a fresh modern introduction and reader's notes that illuminate the novel's theatrical roots, its real-life Newgate setting, and its place in popular fiction. Whether you are discovering Pearce for the first time or returning to a beloved classic, this annotated edition offers the perfect way to experience a forgotten gem of Edwardian storytelling. Part of The Founding Texts Library.