Infernal Riddle of Thomas Peach

''Treadwell''s book is a magnificent pastiche of 18th-century fiction''The Sunday Times''Tristram Shandy meets Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell in a novel that addresses dark disturbing themes with tremendous wit, charm and elegance''Daily Express''Part historical pastiche, part gothic horror, this is an ambitious and stylistically bold 18th-century adventure with shades of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell''SFX''Treadwell''s book entertains and impresses . . . He must be heartily congratulated both for performing an extraordinary feat of literary ventriloquism and also for reminding us what historical fiction does best: create an entirely convincing vanished world while also using that world as a lens through which to view the present day''GuardianWHO IS THOMAS PEACH?Ah, reader! -- if you would have us answer THAT question -- What mysteries you shall compel us to expose!It is the year 1785, and a gentleman of modest means has left London for the countryside, to look after his ailing wife.Among his new neighbours, tongues begin to wag. Why does he keep a locked chest under the stairs? Is it really full of forbidden books? And what exactly is the matter with his wife?For the most part, though, the couple live in peace -- until a letter arrives, threatening to cut off their livelihood and expel them from their home.Faced with the prospect of penury -- and perhaps worse -- the gentleman rides out in search of some means to save himself.But fate has other plans for Thomas Peach.A bizarre request brings an encounter with a mysterious young woman, raised from infancy as a rich man''s ward, now condemned to the madhouse. As their paths become disturbingly entangled, Mr Peach begins to suspect that in her past lies a dreadful secret . . .Dreadful indeed! -- Yet however fearful the poor child''s history -- can her secret be darker, than HIS OWN?