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This second novel from the author of The Deception of Harriet Fleet takes us back to the aftermath of the Great War in another haunting, atmospheric Gothic tale.
London in 1919 was a city of ghosts and absences, haunted by the men who marched away but never came back from ‘the war to end all wars.’
Grace Armstrong believes that she has come to terms with her own loss, the death of her fiancé, the brilliant and dazzling best friend of her brother. He was declared Missing in Action during the Battle of the Somme, but he starts to reappear both in her waking life and dreams.
Grace is appalled when a body, dragged from the Thames, is identified as Catherine Smith, who has lodged with Grace and her family for the last eight years before suddenly disappearing.
Catherine had been more than a lodger; she had become a close friend to Grace, who feels compelled to find out what happened. In doing so she is drawn reluctantly into the sordid and dangerous underbelly of London and a scandal that rocked Edwardian society. Soon Grace finds herself under threat, and the only person prepared to listen is the brooding Tom Monaghan. But Tom has dark shadows of his own to navigate before being able to put his past behind him to help Grace in her quest for the truth.
(P) 2022 Quercus Editions Limited
London in 1919 was a city of ghosts and absences, haunted by the men who marched away but never came back from ‘the war to end all wars.’
Grace Armstrong believes that she has come to terms with her own loss, the death of her fiancé, the brilliant and dazzling best friend of her brother. He was declared Missing in Action during the Battle of the Somme, but he starts to reappear both in her waking life and dreams.
Grace is appalled when a body, dragged from the Thames, is identified as Catherine Smith, who has lodged with Grace and her family for the last eight years before suddenly disappearing.
Catherine had been more than a lodger; she had become a close friend to Grace, who feels compelled to find out what happened. In doing so she is drawn reluctantly into the sordid and dangerous underbelly of London and a scandal that rocked Edwardian society. Soon Grace finds herself under threat, and the only person prepared to listen is the brooding Tom Monaghan. But Tom has dark shadows of his own to navigate before being able to put his past behind him to help Grace in her quest for the truth.
(P) 2022 Quercus Editions Limited
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Reviews
A gripping historical mystery that confounds the impossible. The Lodger takes the longing of wartime heartbreak and wraps it in a wickedly deadly conundrum
I was gripped. A clever and richly imagined recreation of the Edwardian world with all its politesse and hypocrisies after the First World War
An intriguing mystery layered with deeper themes of loss and regeneration after the Great War. London in 1919 is richly atmospheric, and Grace Armstrong is a sympathetic and spirited protagonist
The atmosphere of post-WW1 London is beautifully evoked and richly detailed . . . I loved the character of Grace . . . It deserves to be a huge hit
A ghostly, immersive mystery threaded with twists and turns as evocative as the 20th-century London in which it is set . . . A devastating reveal and a tangled web I won't forget
A deliciously Gothic page-turner
[Helen Scarlett] has a gift for pulling readers into the twists and turns of her story
A poignant and readable mystery
An atmospheric, haunting tale
An atmospheric and tense period piece that drips in gothic brilliance