Blackberry and Wild Rose: A gripping and emotional read

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'Sumptuous and moving' LAURA PURCELL

'A richly imagined and brilliantly twisty tale' ANNA MAZZOLA

'A plot as finely detailed as Spitalfields silk' STACEY HALLS

WHEN ESTHER THOREL, the wife of a Huguenot silk-weaver, rescues Sara Kemp from a brothel she thinks she is doing God's will. Sara is not convinced being a maid is better than being a whore, but the chance to escape her grasping 'madam' is too good to refuse.

INSIDE THE THORELS' tall house in Spitalfields the two women forge an uneasy relationship. Sara despises her mistress's blindness to the hypocrisy of her household, while Esther is too wrapped up in her own secrets to see what's going on.

ESTHER IS IN LOVE with silk design, till now the province of men. When her husband laughs at her ambition, it sets in motion events that will change the fate of the whole Thorel household and pave the way for a devastating day of reckoning between Esther and Sara.

Reviews

A sumptuous and moving debut. Velton weaves her tale with the threads of betrayal, thwarted dreams and good intentions gone awry

Velton gives [her characters] genuine depth in a moving story of love, secrets and betrayal - Sunday Times

This exquisitely evocative novel will appeal to fans of The Miniaturist - Red

An utterly absorbing novel that draws you into a fascinating and often sinister world. I loved it

Author Bio

Sonia Velton grew up between the Bahamas and the UK. After graduating from university with a first class law degree, she qualified as a solicitor at an international law firm, later going on to specialise in discrimination law. Sonia relocated to the Middle East in 2006. Eight years and three children later she returned to the UK and now lives in Kent. Blackberry and Wild Rose, inspired by real characters and historical events, was short-listed for the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize as a work in progress, was longlisted for the Mslexia novel competition, and is Sonia's first novel.