Imogen Robertson – författare

''A prescient page-turner about secrets, lies, ruthless ambition and betrayal'' SARAH VAUGHAN

''A rare view from the inside of the Machiavellian machinations for power . . . Fascinating'' HARRIET TYCE

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In their remarkable debut political thriller, Tom Watson, former Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, and Imogen Robertson open the doors to The House, a place of ambition, hope, friendship . . . and betrayal.Once allies, Labour MP Owen McKenna and Conservative Minister Philip Bickford now face each other across the House of Commons as bitter enemies. Then the reappearance of a figure from their past forces them to confront the choices that led to the tragic downfall of their former housemate, Jay.

Late one night, Owen receives a visit from a lobbyist who promises to protect him from the consequences of his actions in exchange for one, small favour - or to have his reputation and career utterly destroyed if he refuses. But that favour will sell out everything Owen believes in.

As rivals gather and whispers of wrongdoing fill the corridors of Westminster, it''s clear that someone knows the truth about Jay''s Icarus-like fall from grace. Now, the former friends must face one terrible truth...

Someone is responsible, and a reckoning is overdue.

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''Politics red in tooth and claw. Watson and Robertson capture, with scalpel precision, the neurotic allure of the Westminster power game'' LUKE JENNINGS ''Few people know more about what goes on behind the political scenes than Watson, and it is all unveiled here, in a snappy, twisty page-turner'' HOLLY WATT

Daphne du Maurier meets CSI in this exhilarating debutThornleigh Hall, seat of the Earl of Sussex, dominates its surroundings. Its heir is missing, and the once vigorous family is reduced to a cripple, his whore and his alcoholic second son, but its power endures. Impulsive Harriet Westerman has felt the Hall’s menace long before she happens upon a dead man bearing the Thornleigh arms. The grim discovery cries out for justice, and she persuades reclusive anatomist Gabriel Crowther to her cause, much against his better judgement; he knows a dark path lies before those who stray from society’s expectations. That same day, Alexander Adams is killed in a London music shop, leaving his young children orphaned. His death will lead back to Sussex, and an explosive secret that has already destroyed one family and threatens many others.

Extra material includes a deleted scene and a Q&A with Imogen Robertson Maud Heighton came to Lafond''s famous Academy to paint, and to flee the constraints of her small English town. It took all her courage to escape, but Paris eats money. While her fellow students enjoy the dazzling joys of the Belle Époque, Maud slips into poverty. Quietly starving, and dreading another cold Paris winter, Maud takes a job as companion to young, beautiful Sylvie Morel. But Sylvie has a secret: an addiction to opium. As Maud is drawn into the Morels'' world of elegant luxury, their secrets become hers. Before the New Year arrives, a greater deception will plunge her into the darkness that waits beneath this glittering city of light.

London, 1785. When the body of a former West Indies planter is found outside St Paul''s Cathedral, suspicion abounds. But talk is not only of the man''s death. His past brings a tide of fear directly to Harriet Westerman''s door where William Geddings, senior footman, knows more than he is prepared to confess.In search of answers, Harriet and her friend, anatomist Gabriel Crowther, reluctantly explore the dark and destructive world of Britain''s slave trade. And as Harriet must confront an ugly truth close to home, London''s hidden network of slave traders are forced to face the light. Francis Glass, a former slave, holds the key to their anonymity and no one can be sure what he plans to do with it.When some people will risk everything for their reputation, some acts can never be forgiven.

Book 1: INSTRUMENTS OF DARKNESSIn the year 1780, Harriet Westerman, the unconventional mistress of a country house in Sussex, finds a dead man on her grounds with a ring bearing the crest of the nearby Thornleigh Hall in his pocket. With the help of a reclusive local anatomist, Gabriel Crowther, Harriet resolves to find the murderer.Book 2: ANATOMY OF MURDERLondon, 1781. Harriet Westerman anxiously awaits news of her husband, a ship''s captain who has been gravely injured in the king''s naval battles with France. As London''s streets seethe with rumour, a body is dragged from the murky waters of the Thames.Book 3: ISLAND OF BONESCumbria, 1783. The tomb of the first Earl of Greta should have lain undisturbed on its island of bones for three hundred years.When idle curiosity opens the stone lid, however, inside is one body too many.