It’s been a couple of years since I wrote a full-length novel. Life happens. Immigration happens. And then life happens some more. But then something magical transpired. I attended the UK Meet in September and reconnected with my tribe. And there, in the quiet of my hotel room, I gave birth to a fully-formed novel proposal. I wrote it up on the train home (7 hours from Bristol to Edinburgh!) and sent it to BSB the next week. And they liked it! I don’t know why this surprised me, but it did. And so now I have a new project lined up to keep me busy after my current project with Blind Eye is finished.
It’s a departure in many ways. I’ve written G, I’ve written L, but now I’m writing something even closer to my heart — a story about the fluidity and diversity of relationships, and a story about how we all create our own families with the ones we love.
And oh yes, there’s a Creature.
Have a look.
1885, Wapping, London
It comes with the fog, leaving madness and death in its wake. Survivors claim it’s a demon, but Dr. Gideon Spencer doesn’t believe in monsters. Either way, rapacious land developers want to clear the area, and that includes the clinic Dr. Spencer and his ex-fiancee, Nurse Abigail Gordon, built with their bare hands.
Meanwhile, in fashionable Chelsea, May Eisenstadt and her brother Nathaniel spend their days dabbling in esoteric philosophy and radical politics. And then a chance meeting brings the two worlds together.
Meeting May turns Abigail’s life upside down, as she realizes the real reason she hasn’t looked for a husband since ending her engagement to Gideon. Sparks also fly between Gideon and Nathaniel. Not only are their personalities like vinegar and baking soda, but as their attraction deepens, Gideon begins to realize that Nathaniel’s alchemical research may be at the root of the problems that come with the fog.
Can these four disparate people save London’s most vulnerable citizens from the terror in the fog, before the city tears down the slum and the clinic? And how will they resolve their complicated tangle of emotions and attractions?
Coming from Bold Strokes Books.
Featured Image: CC BY 2.0 by gwire, via Flickr
Jess Faraday 