Black Lily by Stockley, Philippa

Low stock: 6 left

190mm x 127mm x 20mm

Pages: 240

In late seventeenth century London two women, one white, one black, stake everything to prevent a manipulative mogul destroying them. Zenobia, born in poverty, grasps that her only hope of controlling her own life is to capitalise on her looks; Lily, brought to London on a sugar and slave ship as a 'toy,' educated alongside her mistress but used by her master, lives as a kept woman.

As their story weaves and folds through a murky and merciless London, both find themselves pitted against a ruthless man the world knows as John Crace. London's rich but festering possibilities as a rapidly-changing multinational city are breathtakingly painted, and pungent milieux ranging from plague pits to prisons to pastry kitchens'and Pickled Herring Stairs'are vividly brought to life.