Historical

Behind the spectacle there are always secrets.

Unruly crowds descend on Crillick's Variety Theatre. A black, British actress, Zillah, is headlining tonight. An orphan from the slums of St Giles, her rise to stardom is her ticket out - to be gawped and gazed at is a price she's willing to pay.

'Masterful . . . has much to say to our times' Guardian

'Begs to be read' Spectator

'A luminous, thought-provoking novel' Esi Edugyan, author of Washington Black

In 1792, formerly enslaved Benjamin Honey and his Irish wife, Patience, discover an island where they can make a life together. More than a century later, the Honeys'

***Selected for HM The Queen Consort's Reading Room***
***A Jenna Bush Hager 'Read With Jenna' Book Club Pick***

'Generous, filling, deeply satisfying, funny-sad, every page crammed with life and experience. She is one of those writers who has her finger on humanity's pulse. An absolute treat of a book, to be read and reread' India Knight, The Sunday Times