In haar eie woorde vertel Marguerite van haar wilde rooi hare, van Willem wat 'n meester is in die soenkunde, van Roderik uit wie se mond sy ’n tand geslaan het, van die monnik Zannekin wat stink soos 'n varkhok, van die vrye stad Brugge met sy knarsende uithangborde, van haar moeder se boeke met hul smagtende liefdesverhale, van die rooi sweertjies op haar toekomstige eggenoot se gesig en van die haat vir haar bloedeie vader.

Antwerpen 1582: Die veertienjarige dief en inbreker Gitte Niemandsdogter word deur 'n stadswagter gearresteer, en sy word ter dood veroordeel. Sy ontsnap net-net aan die galg deur die onderbalju daarvan te oortuig dat haar pa 'n Spaanse hertog is. Hy is boonop die raadgewer van koning Filips die Tweede. Die Nederlande is in oorlog met Spanje, en in ruil vir haar lewe moet Gitte spioeneer vir die Nederlandse prins van Oranje. Sy gaan na Sevilla en sal al haar lis en vernuf moet aanwend om die hertog se strategiese seekaarte te steel. Maar hoe langer Gitte in Sevilla is, hoe meer hou sy van die stad en van die hertog. Wanneer sy die elegante don Domingo ontmoet, raak sy dolverlief. Sy probeer alles in haar vermoe om van haar opdrag ontslae te raak...

Eighteen-year-old Constance is not interested in marriage or in being a "young lady." But for a young woman coming of age in the early 1800s, that's just about all that's available to her. When her parents arrange her a marriage with a man more than twice her age, she's powerless to resist. Stance couldn't possibly find her newfound husband less appealing, but what can she do? Here's what: Four months into the marriage, she can slip out of their bed in the middle of the night, and she can put on his clothes. She can look in the mirror and like what she sees. She can sneak out of the house before dawn and visit the baker's scrawny son, who has just been drafted into the army, and offer to take his place. Vive l'Empereur! Hot on Stance's tail all the while is her younger brother Pieter, determined to bring Stance back home to Ghent where she belongs. (The battlefield is no place for a young lady, after all.) Ironhead, or, Once A Young Lady is the riotous and powerful story of a fierce renegade, and the silly men who try to bring her down.