The Curious Tale of the Lady Caraboo (24 page)

The reality is that she lived in Philadelphia and began using her married name, Mary Baker. We don't know exactly how long she stayed in the States – possibly until 1824 or 1825 – but there is evidence that at some point she reappeared in New Bond Street, London, as Princess Caraboo. After this report Mary Wilcox/Baker fades out of public life completely.

But thanks to John Wells's research we know how Mary ended her life. She remarried another man called Baker – and Wells likes to imagine that this is the same man she first married all those years ago, pre Caraboo. At her death on 31 December 1864 she was a widow, with a grown-up daughter and a flourishing business selling medicinal leeches to the Bristol Infirmary.

Her story is astounding for so many reasons: here is a girl who won't be bound by the constraints of her birth; who re-invents herself; who dreams herself into a new existence and makes the world believe her, even if only for a little while.

Catherine Johnson is a born-and-bred Londoner who no longer lives in London but by the sea. She studied film at Central Saint Martins School of Art; the fantastic time she had there made up for school, which was horrible.

She has written many books for young readers, and her recent novel,
Sawbones
, published by Walker Books, won the Young Quills Award for historical fiction and was nominated for the Carnegie Medal. Her other books include
Brave New Girl
(Frances Lincoln Children's Books), and
A Nest of Vipers
, published by Random House Children's Publishers UK.

Catherine has also written for film, notably the critically acclaimed
Bullet Boy
, and TV, including
Holby City
.

She lives with her husband and two geriatric pets: a deluded cat and an ancient tortoise. She enjoys baking cakes and knitting. She was taught how to drive (horses, not cars) by an ex-brewery dray driver in Spitalfields.

A Nest of Vipers

Brave New Girl

Sawbones

THE CURIOUS TALE OF THE LADY CARABOO
AN RHCP DIGITAL EBOOK 978 1 448 19758 3

Published in Great Britain by RHCP Digital,
an imprint of Random House Children's Publishers UK
A Penguin Random House Company

This ebook edition published 2015

Copyright © Catherine Johnson, 2015
Cover photograph copyright © Bella Kotak, 2015

First Published in Great Britain

Corgi 9780552557634 2015

The right of Catherine Johnson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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