brAN OBSERVER BOOK OF THE YEARbrA GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE YEARbr'Tremendously good' Observerbr'The most vivid and compelling portrait of late Victorian London since The Crimson Petal and the White' Sarah Perrybr 'Part Wilkie Collins, part Conan Doyle' Guardianbr'Huge fun' Daily Mailbr'Has everything you could want in a novel' Stylist br 'Dickens is whirling enviously in his grave ... Read by a fire on a cold winter evening' Irish Timesbrbr'Ladies and gentlemen, the darkness is complete.' brbr It is the winter of 1893, and in London the snow is falling.brbr It is falling as Gideon Bliss seeks shelter in a Soho church, where he finds Angie Tatton lying before the altar. His one-time love is at death's door, murmuring about brightness and black air, and about those she calls the Spiriters. In the morning she is gone.brbrThe snow is falling as a seamstress climbs onto a ledge above Mayfair, a mysterious message stitched into her own skin. It is falling as she steadies herself and closes her eyes.brbr It is falling, too, as her employer, Lord Strythe, vanishes into the night, watched by Octavia Hillingdon, a restless society columnist who longs to uncover a story of real importance.brbrShe and Gideon will soon be drawn into the same mystery, each desperate to save Angie and find out the truth about Lord Strythe. Their paths will cross as the darkness gathers, and will lead them at last to what lies hidden at the house on Vesper Sands.brbrbr'Like the love child of Dickens and Conan Doyle' Liz Nugentbr 'This novel is an absolute banger' Jon McGregorbr 'An utter joy' Joanna Cannon '