London, 1847. In a quiet house in the countryside outside London, the finishing touches are being made to welcome a group of young women. The house and its location are top secret, its residents unknown to one another, but the girls have one thing in common: they are fallen.Offering refuge for prostitutes, petty thieves and the destitute, Urania Cottage is a second chance at life - but how badly do they want it?Meanwhile, a few miles away in a Piccadilly mansion, millionairess Angela Burdett-Coutts, one of the benefactors of Urania Cottage, makes a discovery that leaves her cold. Her stalker of ten years has been released from prison, and she knows it's only a matter of time before their nightmarish game resumes once more. As the women's worlds collide in ways they could never have expected, they will discover that freedom always comes at a price . . .

From the bestselling author of The Familiars and The Foundling comes Stacey Halls' most compelling and ambitious novel to date.'Something's not right here. In the house. With the family.'West Yorkshire, 1904. When newly-graduated nurse Ruby May takes a position looking after the children of Charles and Lilian England, a wealthy couple form a powerful dynasty of mill owners, she hopes it will be the fresh start she needs. But as she adapts to life at the isolated Hardcastle House, it becomes clear there's something not quite right about the beau, mysterious Mrs England. Ostracised by the other servants and feeling increasingly uneasy, soon a series of strange events will force Ruby to question everything she thought she knew . . .Simmering with slow-burning menace, Mrs England is a portrait of an Edwardian marriage, weaving an enthralling story of men and women, power and control, courage, truth and the very darkest deception. Set against the atmospheric West Yorkshire landscape, Stacey Halls' third novel proves her one of the most exciting and compelling new storytellers of our times.

Lancaster 1612. V Anglicku vrcholí hon na čarodejnice. V temných časoch rôznych podozrení a všemožných obvinení byť ženou môže predstavovať to najväčšie riziko. Mladá sedemnásťročná šľachtičná Fleetwood Shuttleworthová je už štvrtýkrát tehotná, no napriek tomu sa jej manžel Richard stále nedočkal vytúženého dediča. Keď Fleetwood nájde list od lekára s hrozivou predpoveďou – ďalší pôrod neprežije –, veľmi ju to rozruší. Zdá sa však, že predsa len má nádej. Náhodou sa spozná s Alice, ktorá o sebe tvrdí, že je pôrodná babica a pomôže Fleetwood donosiť zdravé dieťa. Krajina je však posadnutá honom na čarodejnice a hocikto môže byť obvinený z bezbožnosti. Tieň podozrení čoskoro dostihne aj Alice. Fleetwood musí dokázať Alicinu nevinu, lebo je pevne presvedčená, že od jej života závisí aj život jej nenarodeného dieťaťa.

Two women, bound by a child, and a secret that will change everything . . . London, 1754. Six years after leaving her illegitimate daughter Clara at London's Foundling Hospital, Bess Bright returns to reclaim the child she has never known. Dreading the worst, that Clara has died in care, she is astonished when she is told she has already claimed her. Her life is turned upside down as she tries to find out who has taken her little girl - and why. Less than a mile from Bess's lodgings in the city, in a quiet, gloomy townhouse on the edge of London, a young widow has not left the house in a decade. When her close friend - an ambitious young doctor at the Foundling Hospital - persuades her to hire a nursemaid for her daughter, she is hesitant to welcome someone new into her home and her life. But her past is threatening to catch up with her and tear her carefully constructed world apart. From the bestselling author of The Familiars comes this captivating story of mothers and daughters, class and power, and love against the greatest of odds . . .