Daughters of the Night

Laura Shepherd Robinson's debut novel Blood and Sugar introduced readers to 1782 Georgian London and in her latest book she returns to the same milieu but focusing on a different character this time. The central protagonist is the wife of Captain Harry Corsham. Caroline - Her husband is away in France after his investigation into the horrors of the slave trade and the brutal murder of a slave.

Caroline Corsham finds herself trying to track down the killer of a supposed high society lady with the help of Peregrine Child.  Disgusted by the way in which the judicial system (via the Bow Street Constables) have been  dismissive of the case, and finding it hard to get rid of her own anxieties (due to the absence of her husband), the predicament that she finds herself in threatens to bring her own world down collapsing around her.

In Daughters of the Night, Laura Shepherd Robinson takes us from the brothels and gin-shops of Covent Garden to the elegant townhouses of Mayfair.  We are immersed into the highest and lowest circles of London society with its vast inequalities, extreme poverty alongside all its filthiness, seediness, treachery and lies.  She lifts the lid on the sex-trade and prostitution where women are bought and sold as commodities with hardly any rights.

Rich and well researched in historical detail, and of course impeccably plotted Daughters of the Night is evocative of the period. We are drawn to her wide cast of flawed and complex characters.  This is an entertaining and gripping historical mystery that not only examines the sex-trade but is also insightful of Georgian England and the position women were forced to take during that period and class divide.  Daughters of the Night is intelligent and multi-layered with superb plotting and a great sense of place.

Beautifully crafted and hugely addictive it is surely going to be considered one of the best historical books of the year.