'We have no need to protect ourselves from the bad sort because WE are the bad sort . . .' 'Beguiling' Stylist The year is 1831. Down murky alleyways, acts of unspeakable wickedness are taking place and London's vulnerable poor are disappearing from the streets. Out of these shadows comes Hester White, a bright young woman who is desperate to escape these slums by any means possible. When a chance encounter thrusts Hester into the beguiling world of the aristocratic Brock family, she leaps at the chance to improve her station in life. But whispers from her past slowly begin to poison her new existence, and lure her into the most sinister of investigations. As she finds herself dragged into the blackest heart of the city, little does she know that something more depraved than she could ever imagine is lurking. . . 'Carlin can tell a good story' Observer 'Contains lovely, lyrical writing . . . and a heady romance at its heart' Sunday Express 'A deliciously dark confection of a novel' Ruth Hogan