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The Unpierced Heart
Katy Darby
  • Published: 21 November 2012
  • ISBN: 9780241954225
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $19.99
Categories:

The Unpierced Heart

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A dark portrait of the fragility and fervour of male friendship that's full of gothic drama, romance and intrigue

'Love is a disease; and one which has proved mortal to many men down the ages.'

Oxford, 1887: brilliant medical student Stephen Chapman volunteers at a shelter devoted to reforming fallen women, where he meets and falls for Diana, a girl who has broken hearts and inspired deadly duels. His best friend Edward sees her as a dangerous temptress, but Stephen believes she is a wronged woman. What secrets does Diana hold, and what will happen when Stephen strays further into unknown and forbidden territory?

So begins a bloody and lusty tale of ill-lit streets and seedy taverns, of harlots and drunkards, of the highest in the land seeking out the lowest kind of depravity, of desperate murder and scandalous orgies, and of an innocent trapped in a world of passion and sin.
  • Published: 21 November 2012
  • ISBN: 9780241954225
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $19.99
Categories:

Also by Katy Darby

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Praise for The Unpierced Heart

Thrilling gothic romance

Daily Express

A consistently engaging and suspenseful Gothic melodrama

Herald

This book really is a thing of beauty - and that's before you even open the cover . . . The illusion is maintained inside, because the debut novelist Katy Darby has wrought a truly gothic little gem that could almost have fallen through a wormhole, 125 years ago... Darby manages to retain the flavour of the authors she so obviously admires - Wilkie Collins, Arthur Conan Doyle - but at the same time establishes her own voice and creates a contemporary narrative . . . a rare achievement

Independent on Sunday

Richly atmospheric and rattling away in fine style, it conjures 19th century high society and its sordid underbelly with verve and flair . . . Darby knows how to write a cracking novel . . . Darkly enjoyable

Metro

A compelling tale of death, despair and obsession . . . Wildly and knowingly melodramatic but done with such energy and ingenuity that it's also tremendous fun

Sunday Times