In February 1910, the future Virginia Woolf played the most famous practical joke in British military history. Blackening her face and masquerading as an Abyssinian prince, the young writer and her friends conned their way onto HMS Dreadnought, the Empire’s most powerful battleship. 'The Girl Prince' is a tantalisingly fresh take on the iconic writer and her deeply problematic stunt, as well as her ideas on race and empire.

In this episode, listen to award-winning author and scholar Danell Jones and Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies in the Faculty of Arts at McGill University Tabitha Sparks discuss what happened aboard the ship, Woolf’s involvement in the hoax, the immediate aftermath and how the narrative surrounding the ‘practical joke’ has changed over the years.

To buy the book and for more information, visit hurstpublishers.com