Article: MRS BEETON'S RECIPE FOR SHAME; She was Britain's first domestic goddess whose book remains a housekeeping bible to this day. But beneath the image of cosy bliss is an untold story of a husband who gave her the syphilis that killed their children, stolen recipes and the cynical exploitation of her name.

Byline: ZOE BRENNAN

HER WRITINGS launched a thousand blushing brides on the path to domestic bliss. But as she lay dying at the age of 28, ravaged by the horrors of a postnatal infection and weakened by syphilis, Isabella Beeton perhaps reflected on how horribly at odds with her lifetime's work her end was to be.

For those who gathered around her death bed, there was surely no sign that this shattered creature would come to epitomise Victorian morality and domestic rectitude.

Isabella, Mrs Beeton, has been described as the most famous English authoress ever born, thanks to her astonishing guide on the art of keeping house, The Book Of Household ...

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