Elizabeth Jolley (4 June, 1923 – 13 February, 2007) was a multiple award winning Australian writer, novelist, and short story teller.

Alexander Pope (21 May, 1688 – 30 May, 1744) was a poet and satirist, considered to be one of the best English poets of the early 18th century

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor who is commonly thought of as the greatest writer in English, and the world’s greatest dramatist.

Sir Richard Francis Burton (19 March, 1821 – 20 October, 1890) was an English writer, translator, explorer, poet, diplomat, and spy… among many other interests.

David Garrick (19 February, 1717 – 20 January, 1779) was a playwright, actor, producer, and theater manager from England.

Dellaria Wells, Delly, is a hard-drinking thief, about to be evicted from her apartment in Leiscourt. Delly is also a talented fire-witch, but has no idea how to hone her skills. Delly fast-talks herself into a good paying job, protecting a young rich lady from assassination.

Thomas Paine (29 January, 1736 – 8 June, 1809) was an American philosopher, writer, and political activist & theorist known for Common Sense (1776) and The American Crisis (1776–1783)

Francis Bacon (22 January, 1561 – 9 April, 1626*+), 1st Viscount St Alban, Kt PC QC, also known as Lord Verulam, best known for promotion of the scientific method, was an English philosopher and statesman serving during his lifetime as Attorney General and as Lord Chancellor of England.

The book does a great job to taking a complex, and messy, narrative and shaping it for the reader to understand. It was amusing to read how an obscure, but genius, cryptographer working in a dank room had far reaching consequences on the other side of the world without anyone knowing about it.

Saki (18 December, 1870 – 14 November, 1916) was an English writer known for making fun of Edwardian society, as well as his macabre and roguish stories.