A bit of a diversion for Rosie Thomas for this is a period novel of the late Victorian theatre world. It revolves around an illusionist who calls himself Devil, his love and eventual wife and an ill-tempered dwarf. They are all strong characters driven by their ambitions which are not always going in the same direction. It is an intriguing tale full of well researched period detail. ~ Sarah Broadhurst
From the bestselling author of the phenomenally successful The Kashmir Shawl London 1870. A terrifying place for a young, beautiful woman of limited means. But Eliza is modern before her time. Not for her the stifling if respectable conventionality of marriage, children, domestic drudgery. She longs for more. Through her work as an artist's model, she meets the magnetic and irascible Devil - a born showman whose dream is to run his own theatre company. Devil's right-hand man is the improbably-named Carlo Bonomi, an ill-tempered dwarf with an enormous talent for all things magic and illusion. Carlo and Devil clash at every opportunity and it constantly falls upon Eliza to broker an uneasy peace between them. And then there is Jasper Button. Mild-mannered, and a family man at heart, it is his gift as an artist which makes him the unlikely final member of the motley crew. Thrown together by a twist of fate, their lives are inextricably linked: the fortune of one depends on the fortune of the other. And as Eliza gets sucked into the seductive and dangerous world her strange companions inhabit, she risks not only her heart, but also her life...
'Love, seduction, magic and illusion collide as Rosie Thomas takes us on a spellbinding journey through an extremely shadowy world' Daily Express Praise for The Kashmir Shawl:
'A superbly researched and vivid evocation of wartime Kashmir and Ladakh' Daily Mail
'A spellbinding tale. Beautifully written, honest and compassionate...a delight from start to finish' Daily Express
'An epic tale...A complicated entanglement of family secrets, love during wartime and dangerous liaisons. For fans of Maggie O'Farrell' Red
'A superbly written novel, marvellously descriptive and especially evocative of the war years ... a gorgeous treat' - Choice
Author
About Rosie Thomas
Rosie Thomas is the author of a number of celebrated novels, including the bestsellers The Kashmir Shawl, Sun at Midnight, Iris and Ruby and Constance. Once she was established as a writer and her children were grown, she discovered a love of travelling and mountaineering. She has climbed in the Alps and the Himalayas, competed in the Peking to Paris car rally, spent time on a tiny Bulgarian research station in Antarctica and travelled the silk road through Asia. She lives in London.
