Mrs England: The award-winning Sunday TImes bestseller from the winner of the Women's Prize Futures Award

Description

From the bestselling author of The Familiars and The Foundling comes Stacey Halls's most compelling and ambitious novel to date. 'Something's not right here.' I was aware of Mr Booth's eyes on me, and he seemed to hold his breath. 'What do you mean?' 'In the house. With the family.' West Yorkshire, 1904. When newly graduated nurse Ruby May takes a position looking after the children of Charles and Lilian England, a wealthy couple from a powerful dynasty of mill owners, she hopes it will be the fresh start she needs. But as she adapts to life at the isolated Hardcastle House, it becomes clear there's something not quite right about the beautiful, mysterious Mrs England. Distant and withdrawn, Lilian shows little interest in her children or charming husband, and is far from the 'angel of the house' Ruby was expecting. As the warm, vivacious Charles welcomes Ruby into the family, a series of strange events forces her to question everything she thought she knew. Ostracised by the servants and feeling increasingly uneasy, Ruby must face her demons in order to prevent history from repeating itself. After all, there's no such thing as the perfect family - and she should know. Simmering with slow-burning menace, Mrs England is a portrait of an Edwardian marriage, weaving an enthralling story of men and women, power and control, courage, truth and the very darkest deception. Set against the atmospheric West Yorkshire landscape, Stacey Halls' third novel proves her one of the most exciting and compelling new storytellers of our times.

Stacey Halls was born in 1989 and grew up in Rossendale, Lancashire. She studied journalism at the University of Central Lancashire and has written for publications including the Guardian, Stylist, Psychologies, the Independent, the Sun and Fabulous. Her first book, The Familiars, was the bestselling debut hardback novel of 2019, won a Betty Trask Award and was shortlisted for the British Book Awards' Debut Book of the Year.

Halls's terrific third novel is chock full of secrets, deceptions and troubled family histories, with the brooding, blasted landscape of West Yorkshire as the perfect backdrop to this utterly compelling tale. Menacing and marvellously written, this is a hugely accomplished Edwardian chiller. * Daily Mail * Hugely readable with a palpable sense of dread, this is a truly brilliant book. * The Sun * With a desolate setting that shimmers with menace, Stacey Halls' tense novel masterfully tackles issues such as the abuse of power. This enticing and beautifully written story should delight those fans of historical fiction. * Sunday Express * The Familiars author has fast become the queen of historical lit and this new offering, set in 1904, might be her best yet... Evocative and captivating. * Heat Magazine * Halls hits the sweet spot between commercial and literary historical fiction and this feminist gothic thriller is a lovely stealth read, simmering with tension. * Metro * Mesmerising, entrancing, a spellbinding novel of emotion and mystery, a heroine caught in an impossible world of twists, turns and lies. Gripping to the very last page. * Kate Williams * I tingled with suspense, burned with questions and lived Nurse May's story as if it were my own - jumpy and on edge in the menacing atmosphere of Hardcastle House. In precise and evocative prose, Stacey Halls has conjured a devastating, compelling and utterly real world - and I was gripped from start to finish. * Joanna Glen, Costa shortlisted author of The Other Half of Augusta Hope * Halls shows genuine skill in building the sense of menace within the England household and in the unfolding of its secrets. * Sunday Times * Full of gothic menace, this Edwardian mystery is convincing and absolutely enthralling. * Louise Hare, author of This Lovely City * Like a stroll on the sun-flecked Yorkshire Dales, Mrs England is both dazzling and dark, as beautiful as it is disturbing. A captivating, sensuous novel about a grand country estate and a family so full of secrets that a peal of children's laughter, the whispers of a maid or a letter hidden under the mattress may bring it all tumbling down. * Inga Vesper, author of The Long, Long Afternoon * A fresh, original story with Gothic overtones and a quiet but deadly subversion. * Elizabeth Buchan, author of Two Women in Rome * Mrs England is jaw-droppingly brilliant. Exquisitely written, incredibly atmospheric, a masterclass in rising tension. The deliciously addictive love-child of Daphne Du Maurier and Henry James, one of those rare books that you want to re-read immediately. * Liz Hyder * Brilliant. An utterly gripping exploration of female fortitude in adversity, with a propulsive, atmospheric plot. Ruby is a wonderful protagonist. * Caroline Lea * This enthralling read is a powerful examination of an Edwardian marriage, and the underlying currents of control, courage and power. * Woman & Home * Halls' third novel builds its tension slowly and carefully, replete with gothic flourishes and revelling in the Upstairs/Downstairs world of a vanished age. * Bookbrunch * Nobody and nothing is what it seems, including Ruby May who has secrets of her own, in this wonderfully menacing mystery. * Red * Halls certainly knows how to write gripping historical fiction. * Good Housekeeping * Highly atmospheric and tense. * Richard Osman, The Observer * As treacherous and invigorating as the moors. I didn't want it to end. * Laura Purcell *