One woman spy, playwright and accidental harlot in lawless 17th century London defiantly charts her own course to self-determination and influence in a world where men wield the swords and secrets.

SYNOPSIS:

London. 1656. England under the thumb of Oliver Cromwell’s corrupt authoritarian regime. A young woman writer deciphers the milieu; war, execution, martial law, exile, prison, sequestered land. Chaos and conspiracy. Men, who’ve made a brilliant cock up of England, can’t be trusted. Ordinary women find themselves in a potent but perilous position. The stage is set for a story until now hidden within history.

Aphra is a genius young woman of humble stock. A natural cryptologist exploited for political conspiracy and espionage. Destined for matrimony, she refuses to conform to either society or men’s control and meets challenges which shape her moral compass and make her into a writer, wielding words as weapons, a spy in the shadows and a woman with agency and influence.

Destitute and injured in the London streets, Aphra seeks refuge with her guardian and mentor Lady Lucy Percy, Countess of Carlisle. But Lady Carlisle, imprisoned in the Tower of London, is in no position to help. Aphra, sheltering in a dark St. Giles alley, encounters Phoebe, a West African woman living in London by way of Barbados. Phoebe offers food and warm, leading Aphra to sanctuary which proves to be a brothel. Turns out, Phoebe lures Aphra in for a finder's fee. Trapped, Aphra’s virginity will be auctioned to the highest bidder. So, she forges a plan to write her way out; rustles up ink and quill, finds hidden ciphered letters in a murdered soldier's coat and writes to Lady Carlisle using said found letters for paper. Meanwhile, erstwhile Royalist spy Lady Carlisle is interrogated by John Thurloe, Cromwell's Spymaster. Thurloe wants Lucy to kidnap Prince James, imprisoned at St. James with his sister, Princess Minette. Thurloe needs James as his personal political pawn but suggests the inconsequential princess be left to an assassin. Lucy agrees to retrieve James in exchange for the return of her estates and income. Released from the Tower; now a double agent, who is she really working for? Lucy sets a plan in motion smuggled aboard fellow agent Francis, Lord Willoughby’s ship for transport to an exiled English convent in Ghent. There, Mother Abbess, Margaret is spymistress for the King. The women conspire in forgery, propaganda printing and clandestine weapons supply for the rebellion. Lucy will use this planned military uprising as a distraction while she carries out the real operation. But what exactly is that? James and Minette are in danger in custody at St. James. But wily Minette is motivated to save herself. Lucy's pageboy, Colin infiltrates the staff and delivers Minette a coded letters from her Queen mother. Probable assassin, Colonel Bampfield, whom Lady Carlisle also finds naked in her bed, pushes Minette down a winding staircase and manages to kill her puppy, witnessed with suspicion by her brother James. There is no time to waste. Aphra convinces Phoebe to deliver her letters to Lady Carlisle. Presented to potential virginity buyers but using some clever tactics, she manages to deter them. For now. Receiving Aphra’s letters, Lady Lucy descends on the brothel. Simultaneously, Lord Willoughby arrives, seeking to purchase Aphra’s virginity (but really interested in the soldier’s ciphered letters, having been told about them by Phoebe, who, as it turns out, is his concubine). A bidding war ensues. Lady Carlisle wins and now Aphra is in real trouble. Lucy grills her, revealing that Aphra’s impending marriage, arranged by Lucy, is in two weeks. A wedding Aphra will do anything to get out of. Aphra confesses she was assaulted by Lucy’s nephew, the handsy Lord Strangford and blinded him in self-defense. And now she’s ruined goods, the wedding is off and her father has disowned her. Out of respectable choices, Aphra argues that rules don’t apply to her as a ruined woman, making her the mistress of her own fate. With a need to earn her bread and out of good choices, Aphra proposes she become one of Lucy's she-spies. Lucy, though doubting Aphra's suitability for espionage, acknowledges she needs Aphra to help get James smuggled out of England. And what about Minette? Against Lucy’s better judgement, Aphra joins the conspiracy and her wheels are already turning to save Princess Minette. No girl gets left behind. And just like that, she’s a spy.

ASTREA