'Robert Dinsdale mixes history and mythology with great panache . . . Richly textured and with an appropriately labyrinthine plot, this is a book that explores the monster inside man - and vice versa. Book of the Month' - The Sunday Times
London, 1861: Ten-year-old Nell belongs to a crew of mudlarks who work a stretch of the Thames along the Ratcliffe Highway. An orphan since her mother died four years past, leaving Nell with only broken dreams and a pair of satin slippers in her possession, she spends her days dredging up coals, copper and pieces of iron spilled…
A Times Best Book of 2019. 'Paver is one of Britain's modern greats. This sinister, gothic chiller shows why' BIG ISSUE, Books of the Year 2019.
"Something has been let loose..."
In Edwardian Suffolk, a manor house stands alone in a lost corner of the Fens: a glinting wilderness of water whose whispering reeds guard ancient secrets. Maud is a lonely child growing up without a mother, ruled by her repressive father.
When he finds a painted medieval devil in a graveyard, unhallowed forces are awakened.
Maud's battle has begun. She must survive a world haunted by witchcraft, the age-old…
'Simply brilliant' Kate Mosse, international bestselling author of Labyrinth
***
Everybody has a story...
Angelfield House stands abandoned and forgotten.
It was once home to the March family: fascinating, manipulative Isabelle; brutal, dangerous Charlie; and the wild, untamed twins, Emmeline and Adeline. But the house hides a chilling secret which strikes at the very heart of each of them, tearing their lives apart...
Now Margaret Lea is investigating Angelfield's past, and its mysterious connection to the enigmatic writer Vida Winter. Vida's history is mesmering - a tale of ghosts, governesses, and gothic strangeness. But as Margaret succumbs to the power…
'The play has conjured evil spirits. These are what haunt your dreams. Your words have opened doors to them.'
On a bitter winter night on Bankside, young fortune-teller Sarah Stone foresees an unimaginable fate: a new play has awakened sinister forces that will lead her to her death. Terrified, she begs the playwright to abandon it, but he refuses, aware the play is one of his best.
Sarah’s battle has begun.
Misfortune haunts the days that follow. Nonetheless, illicit desires still flourish, and Sarah turns to her charismatic cousin Tom for help. But she is unaware that Tom is keeping secrets of his own, and the aid he offers is fraught with unexpected danger.
As the shadow of unhallowed magic darkens the riverside brothels and taverns, forbidden acts of love lead to madness, murder, and accusations of witchcraft.
And Sarah, caught in a seductive web of dark magic and desire, may soon find it is impossible to escape her grisly destiny.
Set vividly against the world of Jacobean London, Touch of a Witch is a darkly gothic thriller where nightmares are rooted in reality, and the lines between good and evil are hard to find.
