The Burial Plot: The bewitching, seductive gothic thriller from the author of The Doll Factory

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'I genuinely could not put this down' - Stacey Halls, author of Mrs England 'A tour de force of a gothic thriller. I devoured it' - Gillian McAllister, author of Wrong Place, Wrong Time 'Taut, propulsive, beautifully done' - Susan Stokes-Chapman, author of Pandora From Elizabeth Macneal, the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Doll Factory, The Burial Plot is a spellbinding Gothic thriller about murder and manipulation. London, 1839. With the cemeteries full and money to be made in death, tricksters Crawford and Bonnie survive on wicked schemes and ill-gotten coin. But one blistering evening, their fortunes flip. A man lies in a pool of blood at Bonnie's feet and now she needs to disappear. Crawford secures her a position as lady's maid in a grand house on the Thames. As Bonnie comes to understand the family - the eccentric Mr Moncrieff, obsessively drawing mausoleums for his dead wife, and their peculiar daughter Cissie, scribbling imaginary love letters to herself - she begins to question what secrets are lying behind the house's paper-thin walls and whether her own presence here was planned from the beginning. Because Crawford is watching, and perhaps he is plotting his greatest trick yet . . .

Reviews

Propulsive, rich and properly gripping. Macneal is a masterful storyteller - I genuinely could not put this down. -- Stacey Halls, author of The Familiars and Mrs England
The always-brilliant Macneal levels up once again in this tour de force of a gothic thriller. I devoured it. -- Gillian McAllister
A book to sink into and relish. Dark, clever, with a twist worthy of your attention. Macneal gets better and better. -- Kiran Millwood Hargrave, bestselling author of The Mercies
Elizabeth Macneal is the real deal - she crafts meticulously researched, page turning gothic tales in beautiful prose. The Burial Plots rich blend of mystery, mayhem and murder both grips and enchants. -- Rachel Hore
The Burial Plot is gothic and gripping, full of twists and turns. I was hooked from the first page, and on constant tenterhooks about the fate of the books heroine. Macneal brings Victorian England - and all of its potential dangers - vividly to life, and the characters leap off the page. -- Flora Carr, author of The Tower
Taut, propulsive, beautifully done - Macneal has once again written a richly drawn story with characters that leap from the page and a plot which hooks you in from the first page to the very last. -- Susan Stokes Chapman, Sunday Times bestselling author of Pandora
You know the books everyone loves Wuthering Heights, And Then There Were None, I Capture the Castle The Burial Plot deserves a spot right alongside them . . . I feverishly devoured every perfect page of Elizabeth McNeals tense, terrifying, and absolutely brilliant novel. Its an irresistible work of genius. -- Nina de Gramont, author of The Christie Affair
The Burial Plot is a masterclass in gothic storytelling. I was completely gripped from the first page, the period detail is utterly immersive and the tale Elizabeth MacNeal weaves is so dark, rich and compelling. Her main character Bonnie is a wonderful creation - flawed, sympathetic, fascinating - and I adored every moment I spent in her company. And the finale of the novel is just fabulous - it gave me chills -- Elodie Harper, author of The Wolf Den
Gripping, taut, elegantly-written and full of richly-researched period detail, The Burial Plot is exactly what a gothic should be: thrilling. -- Rebecca Stott
As dark, twisting and magnificent as Victorian cemetery itself, The Burial Plot is a brilliantly clever and richly imagined novel. I loved it. -- Anna Mazzola, author of The Clockwork Girl
Macneal demonstrates her gift for conjuring up the 19th century . . . ingenious * Sunday Times *

Author Bio

Elizabeth Macneal is the author of two Sunday Times-bestselling novels: The Doll Factory, which won the 2018 Caledonia Novel Award and has been adapted into a major TV series on Paramount+, and Circus of Wonders. Her work has been translated into twenty-nine languages. Born in Scotland, Elizabeth is also a potter and lives in Twickenham with her family. She can be found on instagram @elizabethmacneal