The Confessions of Frannie Langton

'By turns lush, gritty, wry, gothic and compulsive . . .a dazzling page-turner' Emma Donoghue, author of Room__________________________________ 'They say I must be put to death for what happened to Madame, and they want me to confess. But how can I confess what I don't believe I've done?' 1826, and all of London is in a frenzy. Crowds gather at the gates of the Old Bailey to watch as Frannie Langton, maid to Mr and Mrs Benham, goes on trial for their murder.The testimonies against her are damning - slave, whore, seductress. And they may be the truth. But they are not the whole truth. For the first time Frannie must tell her story. It begins with a girl learning to read on a plantation in Jamaica, and it ends in a grand house in London, where a beautiful woman waits to be freed. But through her fevered confessions, one burning question haunts Frannie Langton: could she have murdered the only person she ever loved? __________________________________ 'A book of heart, soul and guts'Elizabeth Day 'It resonates long after the final page has been turned' Laura Carlin, the author of The Wicked Cometh 'Spectacular'Natasha Pulley, author of The Watchmaker of Filigree Street 'Gothic fiction made brand new' Stef Penney, author of The Tenderness of Wolves 'Recalls the best of Sarah Waters'E C Fremantle, author of The Poison Bed 'Gothic writing at its very best' Christine Mangan, author of Tangerine 'Tender and furious and wholly deserving of attention'Jessie Greengrass, author of Sight 'Extraordinary, exhilarating and fiercely intelligent book' Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of The Last Act of Love 'A pitch-perfect gothic novel' Kate Riordan, author of The Girl in the Photograph 'A glory of a book'Stephanie Butland, author of Letters to my Husband 'A literary page-turner' Rebecca F.John, author of The Haunting of Henry Twist 'From Charlotte Bronte through Sarah Waters, Alias Graceand Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea, The Confessions of Frannie Langtondraws on a wealth of literary influences' Observer