Dimensions
125 x 197 x 19mm
James Mallen does not know who murdered him on the banks of the Thames in 1784, when he was only thirty-six. Yet he is convinced that one person does: Augusta Corney, whose spirit continually dances out of his reach.
This captivating novel weaves together the parallel stories of James Mallen's existence before and after his death, gradually unveiling the true nature of his involvement with the dazzling Augusta Corney. It traces Mallen's rise as a surgeon through London's middle classes, riding the tide of the developing science of medicine, surrounded by a vividly realised gallery of family, patients and friends.
Alongside, the tale unfolds of his obsessive search for Augusta in the afterlife; a search accompanied by fellow spirits united by the incompleteness of their lives, from the humiliated Queen Caroline, still bewailing her ill-treatment by the King, to Mallen's outspoken young friend, Franny, still keeping an eye out for him beyond the grave.
Together the two narratives form an enthralling novel, which succeeds in making the disembodied existence of the dead as palpable and affecting as the turmoil of their earthly lives. Vibrantly evocative of the atmosphere and political unrest of the times, inventive, irreverently humorous and achingly sad, this is an exceptional debut.
