Description

What do women look for in a man? And what do men look for in a woman? And how and why has this changed over the centuries?

Every week thousands of people advertise for love either in newspapers, magazines or online. But if you think this is a modern phenomenon, think again – the ads have been running for over three hundred years. From the first ad in 1695 from a young gentleman who ‘would willingly Match himself to some Good Young Gentlewoman, that has a Fortune of GBP3000 or thereabouts’ to the GSOH, WLTM and online dating of more recent years, each ad is a snapshot of its age. The result is a startling history of sex, marriage and society over three centuries – hilarious and heartbreaking by turn.

Publisher Review

Wonderfully enjoyable -- Craig Brown * Mail on Sunday * Shapely Ankle Preferr'd is an absorbing and intelligent history of the pursuit of love -- Daisy Goodwin * Sunday Times * Elegant, witty, wise and utterly delightful -- Christopher Hart * Literary Review * Shapely Ankle Preferr'd is a perfect little history of the surprisingly long story of those who WLTM -- Melissa Katsoulis * Sunday Telegraph * This thorough and thoroughly amusing book suggest that what lonely hearts have always needed is a thick skin, a willing heart and, above all, a GSOH -- Arifa Akbar * Independent *