In 1852, four children disappeared from the streets of London, all apparently taken by a mysterious woman in black known as the Angel of Clerkenwell.
On the day that one of the children turns up dead with a hole drilled in the top of his skull, Sergeant James Smollett of the London Constabulary is instructed by his superiors to close the case. Three years later, new evidence from the only surviving victim - a girl without a memory - leads neurologist Dr Jakob Wolfstein to try to discover who was behind the crimes.
Set in Victorian London, this is a detective story with a difference. The protagonist, Evie, is an orphaned kitchen maid with only the vaguest recollections of her own past. Guided by her dreams and the ghostly apparition of another of the victims, her best friend Amy, she embarks on an investigation of her own to solve the mystery of the children's disappearances - a quest that may cost her her life.
A story of cruelty, madness and devastating family secrets.