Blackberry and Wild Rose

Sonia Velton Quercus. Out now

Newly arrived in the London of 1786, teenager Sara is snatched off the street and forced into prostitution.

To escape she turns to Esther, the unhappy and frustrated wife of a silk weaver, and begs for a job as a maid.

But among the seamy alleys of Spitalfields, trouble is brewing – and the women, each entangled with weavers, are caught up in a rebellion.

With a richly detailed evocation of the era, including the shockingly grim life of the poor and the repression of women, this assured and multilayered historical novel weaves its own magical spell.