Author(s): Laura Carlin

FICTION

'We have no need to protect ourselves from the bad sort because WE are the bad sort . . .'

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKS ARE MY BAG BREAKTHROUGH AUTHOR AWARD

'Beguiling' Stylist

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Down the murky alleyways of London, acts of unspeakable wickedness are taking place and the city's vulnerable poor are disappearing from the streets. Out of these shadows comes Hester White, a bright young woman who is desperate to escape the slums by any means possible.

When Hester is thrust into the world of the aristocratic Brock family, she leaps at the chance to improve her station in life under the tutelage of the fiercely intelligent and mysterious Rebekah Brock.

But whispers from her past slowly begin to poison her new life and both she and Rebekah are lured into the most sinister of investigations, dragging them into the blackest heart of a city where something more depraved than either of them could ever imagine is lurking. . .

A compelling page-turner from a gifted new voice in historical fiction, The Wicked Cometh is the perfect read for fans of The Witchfinder's Sister, Fingersmith and The Essex Serpent.

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'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, author of The Keeper of Lost Things