Lisa Hilton is a best-selling author, historian, presenter and historical consultant. She is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Her most recent book, “The Scandal of the Century” (Michael Joseph, 2024) is a retelling of the mysterious biography of England’s first professional woman playwright, Aphra Behn. It explores the relationship between Behn’s authorship of the first novel in English, “Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister” and the true-life sensation caused by the elopement of Lady Harriet Berkeley with her brother-in-law Lord Grey in 1682.

Lisa has often taken inspiration from the lives of women who shaped the world, and has written seven historical biographies in this theme, from Athenais: The Real Queen of France (Little, Brown, 2002 – shortlisted for the Somerset Maugham Prize), to The Horror of Love (Orion, 2011) – an account of Nancy Mitford’s scandalous affair with Gaston Palewski – and the authoritative Elizabeth, Renaissance Prince (Orion, 2014). Sex and the City of Ladies (Harper Collins, 2020) was commissioned by the Times Literary Supplement and casts a revisionist eye over the reputations of influential women throughout history whose deeds and dispositions have been distorted by centuries of misogyny.

Alongside these works, Lisa has published three historical novels, including The House with Blue Shutters (Atlantic, 2010 – shortlisted for the Commonwealth Fiction Prize) and a History of Art book, The Death of Cleopatra (Skira, 2017), which sheds light on the beauty and ambiguity of Guido Cagnacci’s portrayal of the legendary queen of Egypt.

On screen, Lisa has presented numerous historical series, including Charles I: Downfall (BBC4, 2019) and Charles I: Killing a King (BBC4, 2020), and (in French) “Tendres Rivales” (2012), a three part series for Arte which looks at the historical relationship between England and France. She as presenter and script-writer for the BAFTA-nominated Elizabeth I’s Secret Agents (72 Films, 2017). She has appeared as a contributor and advisor on Bloody Queens: Elizabeth and Mary (BBC2, 2016), as writer and presenter (in French) of the series Tendres Rivales (Arte, 2012), and as co-author and contributor on Versailles: Dream of a King (Brook Lapping, 2011). Lisa has also appeared on The Great British Bake Off and historical food show Glamour Puds. Lisa provides historical consultancy on a range of specialist areas – from Versailles to vampirism, from English Restoration monarchs to French Renaissance menus and culinary innovation.

As LS Hilton, Lisa authored the Maestra Series (Bonnier Zaffre), consisting of three novels, Maestra (2016), Domina (2017) and Ultima (2018). Maestra was a number one Sunday Times Bestseller, a New York Times bestseller and a number one bestseller in 8 European territories. To date, it is on sale in 43 countries and over 1 million copies have been sold worldwide. Both Maestra and her 2022 novel “All My Lovers’ Wives” have been optioned for film.

Lisa was delighted to be awarded Glamour Magazine Writer of the Year in 2016, Porter Magazine Incredible Woman of the Year and Red Magazine Writer of the Year.

Lisa is fully tri-lingual and is regularly published in all three languages. In Italian, for Corriere della Sera, Vanity Fair and La Repubblica, in French for Elle, and in English, in features for the Sunday Times Style, the restaurant column for The Critic, and features for the Spectator, the Times, Times Magazine, and Times Literary Supplement.

Lisa grew up in the north of England and read English at New College, Oxford, after which she studied History of Art in Florence and Paris. Since then, Lisa has lived in New York, Paris, Milan and London.