NOW A MAJOR BBC DRAMA STARRING Romola Garai, Chris O’Dowd, Gillian Anderson, Richard E. Grant, Shirley Henderson and Mark Gatiss

’Watch your step. Keep your wits about you; you will need them . . .’

So begins this irresistible voyage into the dark side of Victorian London. Amongst an unforgettable cast of low-lifes, physicians, businessmen and prostitutes, meet our heroine Sugar, a young woman trying to drag herself up from the gutter any way she can. Be prepared for a mesmerising tale of passion, intrigue, ambition and revenge.

"This is an unputdownable book; there is no choice but to give in to this most unbelievably pleasurable of narrative rides. From Pointillism to broad brushstroke bravura, the prose seems to be on some benign, timed-release speed: its pace in unflagging, its onward rush irresistible. . . Faber’s take on the 19th Century English novel is a heady and intoxicating mixture of affection, respect and scabrous resistance" (The Times)

"A sexy, bravura novel… wildly entertaining" (New York Times)

"When a book is this big, it had better be good – this one is. Dive in. Enjoy!" (Alice Sebold)