It's Spitalfields, 1840. Catherine Sorgeiul lives with her Uncle in a rambling house in London's East End. She has few companions and little to occupy the days beyond her own colourful imagination. But then a murderer strikes, ripping open the chests of young girls and stuffing hair into their mouths to resemble a beak.
Reviews
A wonderfully ripe, imaginative and gripping piece of Victorian pastiche, with a spider's web of a plot and a spine-tingling atmosphere of menace and suspense The Times Fans of Sarah Waters will love this - Good Housekeeping
The Pleasures of Men shares with Wolf Hall an ambitious, challenging concern with form combined with a pitch-perfect historical ear ... This intoxicating and disturbing novel is properly thrilling and extraordinarily well-written. Kate Williams is already an accomplished biographer; The Pleasures of Men shows a soaring talent let loose - Independent on Sunday
A dark story of murder and obsession - Elle Catherine
Sorgeuil's obsession with a series of murders of young girls in London's East End enmeshes her in deceit, betrayal and danger. A spine-tingling, seductive thriller - Woman and Home
An intense, intelligent and hugely entertaining read - The Guardian
Historian Kate Williams successfully makes the move from non-fiction, creating a society, and protagonist, on the brink of hysteria Psychologies A sure-footed evocation of seamy Victorian London - Sunday Telegraph
Part-bodice-ripper, part-slasher, the book's elaborate plot moves along at a brisk clip with a nod to the likes of Sarah Waters and Peter Ackroyd - Daily Mail
As crowded with sensation as a Victorian parlour with furniture - The Scotsman Not since Sarah Waters have I seen so much lesbian sex in a historical novel -- Mariella Frostrup Radio 4 Open Book
Williams creates an extraordinary world with unforgettable characters and a dark heart - highly recommended - The Bookseller
An eerie murder mystery set in the corrupt heart of Victorian London - Marie Claire Good Book Club pick This is a fast-paced thriller written by an expert on all things Victorian. Fans of Sarah Waters and Michel Faber will revel in this charged and colourful Victorian epic - The Bookseller
