Mistresses: A History of the Other Woman. By Elizabeth Abbott. Gerald Duckworth & Co; 510 pages; £20. To be published in America by Overlook in September 2011; $30

A CANADIAN writer and historian, Elizabeth Abbott became aware of mistresses as a child because her great-grandfather kept what her mother scathingly referred to as a “love nest”, occupied by a series of “fancy women”. Her great-grandmother tolerated the situation, on the condition that when a diamond was bought for a mistress, one was also given to her. Now Ms Abbott has explored the nature and history of the extra-marital affair as seen through the mistresses' experience.

Her history of mistresses, which was published in Canada some time ago, is the second in a trilogy of studies on male-female relations. The first was a history of celibacy; the third will be a history of marriage. In 13 thematic and loosely chronological chapters, the author traces the lives of more than 70 mistresses from biblical times to the present day.

The book's scope is ambitious, shifting from imperial China to Europe's royal whores, from Nazi Germany to revolutionary Cuba. Ms Abbott's stated interest is how the relationship between a man and his mistress reflects a woman's position in society at different times. What stands out, however, are the women themselves.

Malinche, the mistress and counsellor of Hernán Cortés, was so crucial to his conquest of the Aztec empire that “natives stopped distinguishing between the two and considered them one indivisible unit.” In 1526 Roxelana, an ambitious beauty, rose out of the Ottoman imperial harem of 300 women to coerce Sultan Suleiman into a monogamous relationship—so unusual that courtiers whispered of bewitchment.

Camilla Parker Bowles is perhaps the most notorious mistress of recent years. Ms Abbott records how she and Prince Charles met at a rain-lashed polo field in 1970, when Camilla, “though dripping wet and garbed in unflattering stable gear”, introduced herself to Britain's heir to the throne. Their relationship continued through failed marriages on both sides and public uproar over the affair.

In a highly unusual move for a mistress, Mrs Parker Bowles became the prince's wife in 2005. The experience of most mistresses is dismal. Even when they willingly enter into mistressdom, the insecurity of their position often leads to destructive behaviour: drink, drugs or gambling. Most of them long to marry their lovers and enjoy the respect society affords to wives.

Ms Abbott is delightfully indiscreet, with an eye for a good story and a colloquial style. Though her book reads more like an anthology of mistresses than a history, she has done the ladies a service by bringing them out of the shadows.