Black Lily

In late seventeenth century London two women, one white, one black, stake everything to prevent a manipulative mogul destroying them. Zenobia, born in poverty, grasps that her only hope of controlling her own life is to capitalise on her looks; Lily, brought to London on a sugar and slave ship as a "toy," educated alongside her mistress but used by her master, lives as a kept woman.

As their story weaves and folds through a murky and merciless London, both find themselves pitted against a ruthless man the world knows as John Crace. London's rich but festering possibilities as a rapidly-changing multinational city are breathtakingly painted, and pungent milieux ranging from plague pits to prisons to pastry kitchens—and Pickled Herring Stairs—are vividly brought to life.

Philippa Stockley is the author of A Factory of Cunning and The Edge of Pleasure.