'Sumptuous and moving' Laura Purcell, author of THE SILENT COMPANIONS For
fans of Jessie Burton and Tracy Chevalier, a rich historical debut set
among the Huguenot silk weavers of Spitalfields in the late 18th century.
WHEN ESTHER THOREL, the wife of a Huguenot silk-weaver, rescues Sara Kemp
from a brothel she thinks she is doing God's will. Sara is not convinced
being a maid is better than being a whore, but the chance to escape her
grasping 'madam' is too good to refuse. INSIDE THE THORELS' tall house in
Spitalfields, where the strange cadence of the looms fills the attic, the
two women forge an uneasy relationship. The physical intimacies of washing
and dressing belie the reality: Sara despises her mistress's blindness to
the hypocrisy of her household, while Esther is too wrapped up in her own
secrets to see Sara as anything more than another charitable cause. IT IS
SILK that has Esther so distracted. For years she has painted her own
designs, dreaming that one day her husband will weave them into reality.
When he laughs at her ambition, she unwittingly sets in motion events that
will change the fate of the whole Thorel household and set the scene for a
devastating day of reckoning between her and Sara. THE PRICE OF a piece of
silk may prove more than either is able to pay.
Author: Sonia Velton
Publication Date: 2019
