Mrs Pearcey
Camden, 1890. London is a city of gaslight, gossip and grisly headlines.
Hannah Teale is a bright young woman newly engaged to Cosmo, a budding Fleet Street reporter. Her interest in journalism is largely confined to the advice and short stories in her beloved Girl's Own Paper, but when news breaks of a local woman arrested for a brutal double murder - a woman named Mary Pearcey - Hannah is struck by a chilling realisation. She's seen that face before.
As the streets of Camden fill with tabloid journalists jostling for a scoop and gawpers hungry for details, Hannah becomes convinced that her encounter with Mrs Pearcey holds the key to the story behind the headlines. In the guise of preparing for her wedding, Hannah embarks on her own investigation. Startling revelations bring her closer to the real Mary Pearcey - but the deeper she digs, the more the neat edges of her own world begin to fray.
With a trial in full swing, what began as a morbid fascination now feels urgent and personal. The woman bound for the gallows may not be as guilty as the press have branded her - but can Hannah uncover the truth before it's too late? And even if she does, will anyone believe her?
Riveting and immersive, MRS PEARCEY is a powerful reimagining of a true crime story that scandalised Victorian society and a moving exploration of the secrets we keep and the stories we tell.
Reviews
This is a perfect novel – vivid, compelling characters caught up in a riveting mystery, at a historical moment that says so much about our own. Moggach wears her deep knowledge of Victorian London lightly, and the prose exudes warmth and humour. A masterpiece
Gripping, sophisticated, modern, with an enviable lightness of touch: this is a fantastic novel. I can't think of anyone who wouldn't love it.
I inhaled MRS PEARCEY. What an incredible book. Gripping and creepy and compulsive, yet deeply touching . . . brilliant.
Startlingly original.
Vivid, gripping and moving, MRS PEARCEY provides the thrill of true crime and a comment on our appetite for that genre.
Rich, beautifully written, unsettling and, above all, real . . . a triumphant addition to the growing collection of novels that explore and enhance our understanding of real crimes.
The murderess Mary Pearcey has been brought back from the dead by Lottie Moggach in an utterly engrossing novel. Moggach writes with enormous heart and a detective's attention to detail regarding the court case and the Victorian press's bloodcurdling appetite for the gruesome. Read it and the streets of London will transform before your eyes
MRS PEARCEY is so gripping and vividly imagined I couldn’t bear to leave the world Lottie Moggach created. A brilliant book that will stay with me a long time
A thoughtful, nuanced novel that is both thoroughly modern and perfectly pitched within its timeframe. MRS PEARCEY is a great read - elegantly written true crime that delves with deftness into the sensationalism of its own genre.
Gripping and propulsive and perfectly handled. I loved the details of nineteenth-century London… Engaging, vivid and intriguing
An excellent novel – so beautifully written, so cleverly plotted, so atmospheric. I loved being transported to 19th century London and into the lives of such vivid and convincing characters
Sophisticated and suspenseful, Moggach's novel goes beyond the usual historical fiction
If you love historical fiction, that feels fresh and new, this tale from Moggach delivers
Based on a sensational case in Victorian London, this is a page-turning novel with a rich cast of believable characters that highlights the 19th-century origins of our obsession with true crime.
A true gem.
(A) compulsive fourth novel
MRS PEARCEY is also an empathetic exploration of the female condition, solidarity and to some extent empowerment, but also a fascinating and gripping low key whydunit thriller in spite of the fact that the reader is always aware of its outcome
An intriguing novel
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