The Wages of Sin

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What to expect

An irresistible mystery set in 1890s Edinburgh, Kaite Welsh's THE WAGES OF SIN features a female medical student-turned-detective, and will thrill fans of Sarah Waters and Antonia Hodgson.

Sarah Gilchrist has fled from London to Edinburgh in disgrace and is determined to become a doctor, despite the misgivings of her family and society. As part of the University of Edinburgh's first intake of female medical students, Sarah comes up against resistance from lecturers, her male contemporaries, and - perhaps worst of all - her fellow women, who will do anything to avoid being associated with a fallen woman...

When one of Sarah's patients turns up in the university dissecting room as a battered corpse, Sarah finds herself drawn into Edinburgh's dangerous underworld of bribery, brothels and body snatchers - and a confrontation with her own past.

(P)2017 Headline Publishing Group Limited

Critics Review

This powerful novel combines a disturbing look at late Victorian attitudes towards women and morality with a satisfying murder mystery
Sunday Express
An enthrallingly gothic murder mystery
The Herald
A gripping story, a great central character and full of riotous, beautifully drawn period detail
Kate Hamer
Edinburgh is the superb gothic setting for this nail-biting debut
Fabulous Magazine
The first book in what will, one hopes, be a long-running series, featuring a new kind of historical leading lady, Welsh's debut is an inspiring feminist tale perfect for the modern age
Library Journal, Debut of the Month
Welsh makes clever use of the conventions of the genre while throwing in a twist informed by modern sensibilities. Damp, sooty, moralistic, and sinning Edinburgh is convincingly evoked. A gritty detective story as unflinching as its heroine, rich in well-researched period detail
Kirkus Reviews
Atmosphere, murder, a strong heroine, a flawed hero and a stunning twist - The Wages of Sin has it all. I hope we'll be reading more by Kaite Welsh. And I hope it will involve Sarah Gilchrist.
My Weekly Magazine
I absolutely loved The Wages of Sin, and especially the funny, feisty Sarah Gilchrist, a Victorian feminist for modern times. Transported between the horrors of medical dissection rooms, the back streets of Edinburgh, opium dens and brothels, I was captivated, right to the very end
Catherine Hall, author of THE PROOF OF LOVE and DAYS OF GRACE
A tremendous debut
Daily Record
A gripping story of murder, medicine and misogyny in Victorian Britain
Emerald Street
Historical fiction doesn't get much more delicious or original
Damian Barr

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