Kept

A genuinely fascinating reading experience... A pageturner of the highest order. It is a genuine mystery - not a simple whodunnit but a constant revelation of a complex and tight-knit plot

Philippa Gregory, The Times

A gripping tale, crafted with passion, and intelligence, and an honourable addendum to the golden age of the English novel

Simon Baker, New Statesman

He has a faultless ear for the varied nuances of mid-Victorian English... [and] takes a wicked pleasure in creating a dense underlay of references, a blend of historical fact and other authors' fiction which lies beneath his narrative and occasionally erupts into it... Clever and hugely readable

Andrew Taylor, Independent

Intricate and vividly realised

Daily Telegraph

Intricate and vividly realised...a pin-sharp recreation of 19th-century life

Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, Daily Telegraph

Taylor has a lot of fun with his premise, and readers should too

Suzi Feay, Independent on Sunday

Taylor is marking out a territory as distinct and disturbing as Greenland, with the same imperative towards moral inquisition and a flatlands melancholy that is all his own

Hilary Mantel, Sunday Times

Taylor is utterly enthralling

Bob Monkhouse, Guardian

Taylor] creates a vivid, kaleidoscopic world that constantly shifts before the reader's eyes

Judith Flanders, Sunday Telegraph

Taylor's skill ensures the book never loses its grip... Hugely enjoyable...Conan Doyle, Dickens and Wilkie Collins knew how to do it, and Taylor has learned his lesson well... A great read. It intrigues, diverts and delights. It is clever and intricate and huge fun

Susan Hill, Guardian