Book description
Grace Parkes has just had to do a terrible thing. Having given birth to
an illegitimate child, she has travelled to the famed Brookwood Cemetery
to place her small infant's body in a rich lady's coffin. Following the
advice of a kindly midwife, this is the only way that Grace can think of
to give something at least to the little baby who died at birth, and to
avoid the ignominy of a pauper's grave.
Distraught and weeping, Grace meets two people at the cemetery: Mrs
Emmeline Unwin and Mr James Solent. These two characters will have a
profound affect upon Grace's life. But Grace doesn't know that yet. For
now, she has to suppress her grief and get on with the business of
living: scraping together enough pennies selling watercress for rent and
food; looking after her older sister, who is incapable of caring for
herself; thwarting the manipulative and conscience-free Unwin family,
who are as capable of running a lucrative funeral business as they are
of defrauding a young woman of her fortune.
A stunning evocation of life in Victorian London, with vivid and
accurate depictions, ranging from the deprivation that the truly poor
suffered to the unthinking luxuries enjoyed by the rich: all bound up
with a pacy and thrilling plot, as Grace races to unravel the fraud
about to be perpetrated against her and her sister. Â By any
standards, an exceptional novel . . . the gift for taking historical
situations and making them emotionally engaging is far too rare . . .
after six historical novels, this one is Hooper's breakthrough and its
characterisation, plotting and atmosphere are first-rate and deserve
prizes . . . Not since Philip Pullman's The Ruby in the Smoke
has there been such a gorgeous evocation of Victorian life - or so
satisfying a conclusion' Mary Hooper is a very popular writer for
children and young adults. Mary s brilliant historical novels, At the
House of the Magician, By Royal Command, The Betrayal, At the Sign of
the Sugared Plum, Petals in the Ashes
and The Extraordinary Life and Times of Eliza Rose
, have a huge fan base, as do her contemporary novels for teenagers.
Mary is very much in demand for her events at literary festivals and
schools. She lives in Henley-on-Thames.
