The Revelations of Carey Ravine

Description

London in the 1770s is bursting with opportunity. It's a city fuelled by new ideas and new money, where everything is for sale - including entree into the ruling class. Making their way in this buccaneering society are Carey Ravine, a spirited young woman of enigmatic background, and her husband, the charming, endlessly enterprising Oliver Nash. Carey and Nash share a historic connection to India and a desperate ambition to better themselves. But as Nash's plans draw them into a restless association of gamblers and secret societies, Carey begins to question what's really hidden behind the seedy glamour of their lives. Her unease grows with the appearance of a mysterious man whose appearance unearths a troubling secret from the past. Carey finds herself forced to investigate the truth behind the stranger's claims - and to confront her own illusions about herself.

Debra Daley was born in New Zealand and grew up in west Auckland in a family of Irish extraction. After graduating from the University of Auckland she was employed as a journalist and editor in London and then in Sydney. She also worked as a screenwriter and as a public health journalist in Auckland, while raising two sons. She subsequently lived in Ibiza, and London again, where she wrote her first historical novel, Turning the Stones. She now lives in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand.

I marvelled at this novel. Gripping, assured and powerfully atmospheric; you know at once you are in the hands of a master storyteller - Rowan Pelling, on Turning the Stones A glorious, intricate period romance: a perfect mix of Georgian high society blended with wild Irish magic. Em is a feisty heroine and the denoument is as perfect as it is unexpected - Manda Scott, on Turning the Stones Gripping, tautly plotted and hauntingly beautiful: Debra Daley is a writer to watch - Vanora Bennett, on Turning the Stones An enjoyable melodrama involving a stolen child, boorish brutes intent on ravishing the heroine, a woman with a gift of second sight and a rakish smuggler - Sunday Times on Turning the Stones