Deansgate is delighted to welcome three fantastic historical fiction authors—
Emilia Hart, Alex Hay and Lora Jones—to discuss their respective new novels, in conversation with
Simon Savidge.
The Sirens by Emilia HartFrom the acclaimed author of
Weyward comes a haunting exploration of sisterhood, misogyny and the ghosts of the past, as fugitive Lucy seeks shelter in a mysterious coastal town with unexpected connections.
Lucy is running from what she’s done: the terror of waking with her hands around her ex-lover’s throat, his face turning purple and eyes bulging. Pursued by nightmares – and with nowhere else to go – she makes for her big sister's clifftop home. But when she arrives, Jess is nowhere to be found.
The town is strange and full of rumours: a dozen men disappeared, without a trace. Women’s voices murmuring on the waves. A foundling discovered in a sea-swept cave.
As Lucy searches for Jess, her dreams seem to draw closer. She can see two sisters in a murky past. She can see a world where men always seem to get their way. And something in her body wants to fight back.
The Queen of Fives by Alex Hay
The author of the bestselling
The Housekeepers delivers another immersive historical mystery filled with danger and deception, as the most talented con-woman in Victorian London sets her sights on a wealthy duke.
1898. Quinn Le Blanc, London's most talented con woman, has five days to pull off the seemingly impossible: trick an eligible duke into marriage and lift a fortune from the richest family in England.
Masquerading as a wealthy debutante, Quinn is the jewel of the season. Her brilliant act opens doors to the grand drawing rooms and lavish balls of high society - and propels her into the inner circle of her target: the corrupt, charismatic Kendals.
But as she spins in and out of their world, Quinn becomes tangled in a dangerous web of love, lies and loyalty. The Kendal family all have secrets of their own, and she may not be the only one playing a game of high deception...
The Woman in the Wallpaper by Lora Jones
Paris, 1789. The Oberst Factory, which crafts exquisite wallpaper for the most fashionable French homes, is a place shrouded in mystery. Most enigmatic is the woman pictured in each of its prints, rumoured to be the late Mrs Oberst, who died in peculiar circumstances.
When sisters Lara and Sofi arrive there for work, they quickly form a friendship with Josef Oberst, the motherless heir to the factory. Whilst Sofi's political fervour intensifies, Lara is disturbed by the uncanny way her life appears mirrored in the wallpaper. Meanwhile Hortense, Josef's spoilt aristocratic wife, is similarly unnerved by the scenes that line the walls of her new home. With the mobs growing ever more violent, is she in danger of meeting the same untimely end as the last Mrs Oberst?
As revolution blazes across France, the lives of Sofi, Lara and Hortense are set to collide in unimaginable and irrevocable ways. Can they change what lies ahead, or are some patterns destined to be repeated?