ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- This was such fun! Miss de Vries has decided to hold a ball. She has wealth, and beauty, but what she wants is a Title. Despite Society's misgivings that the ball is being held in 1905 mere months after her father (who made his fortune in the south African goldmines) has suddenly died, she will go ahead with her lavish plans. But she has unfairly sacked the housekeeper Mrs King, who not only knows all the arrangements but who decides to take revenge, plotting to strip the house of everything whilst the ball is in progress! As the days tick down to the night of the ball, plans are laid on both sides… A truly entertaining read, full of wonderful characters and wildly inventive schemes. I'd say, Downton Abbey crossed with Oceans Eleven - and somehow it works! Lindy
'This twisty heist caper is a delightfully mischievous debut' The Times
'Flawless, lawless fun' Kiran Millwood Hargrave, bestselling author of The Mercies
---
Alex Hay grew up in Cambridge and Cardiff and has been writing as long as he can remember. He studied History at the University of York, and wrote his dissertation on female power at royal courts, combing the archives for every scrap of drama and skulduggery he could find. He has worked in magazine publishing and the charity sector, and is a graduate of the Curtis Brown Write Your Novel course. The Housekeepers is his debut novel and won the Caledonia Novel Award 2022. Alex lives with his husband in South East London
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- This was such fun! Miss de Vries has decided to hold a ball. She has wealth, and beauty, but what she wants is a Title. Despite Society's misgivings that the ball is being held in 1905 mere months after her father (who made his fortune in the south African goldmines) has suddenly died, she will go ahead with her lavish plans. But she has unfairly sacked the housekeeper Mrs King, who not only knows all the arrangements but who decides to take revenge, plotting to strip the house of everything whilst the ball is in progress! As the days tick down to the night of the ball, plans are laid on both sides… A truly entertaining read, full of wonderful characters and wildly inventive schemes. I'd say, Downton Abbey crossed with Oceans Eleven - and somehow it works! Lindy
This is the perfect holiday read * Guardian * This twisty heist caper is a delightfully mischievous debut * The Times * Downton meets Ocean's 8 * Grazia * A page-turning delight from beginning to end * Red * Tremendously fun * i Paper * A brilliantly entertaining tale of revenge, with fabulous characters - this is a riotous underworld adventure * Best * This Edwardian heist story is such a fun read! * Good Housekeeping * Hay brings a lively tempo and an elegant wit to this zippy thriller that is also a social commentary on the plight of the powerless * Washington Post * Wildly entertaining . . . an irresistible, deliciously audacious premise * Platinum *