Gentle Things

De: Danielle Giles

London, 1668. Though the streets hum with promise following the restoration of the crown, Lucy North is trapped. She faces either working for her aunt and uncle for the rest of her life, or marrying the next man willing to take her without a dowry. She must escape.

Then she meets Thomas Ashwell, a young and charming apothecary, who offers her a route out. Lucy is quick to fall in love, and when Thomas proposes she has no hesitation in accepting him.

But, on the eve of her wedding, Lucy falls and injures her head. Surrendering to the care of her concerned fiancée, Lucy's world soon starts to take on a warped, dreamlike – or nightmarish – quality. Can she really trust this man?

©2026 Danielle Giles (P)2026 Macmillan Publishers International Limited

Reseñas de la Crítica

A dark and disturbing tale set in an East Anglian abbey in Dark Ages England, where the old pagan Gods are meeting a fledgling Christianity. A supernatural mystery, a political power struggle, a romance, a woman bringing compassion and healing to a brutal world, and fenland ripe with stagnant secrets. Beautifully written, you will be drawn into the claustrophobic world of the mere, where sinners fear the retribution of both God and the devil (Laura Shepherd-Robinson, bestselling author of The Square of Sevens)

It is rare for an author to fully recreate the strangeness of the past, but Danielle Giles has done exactly that. Through eerie, beautiful writing, she takes readers on a mystery in Medieval Norfolk, until, like the proud, resourceful women of this novel, one can't help but be swallowed into one of the damp mouths of the mere. This is a gem of a novel (Costanza Casati, bestselling author of Babylonia)

Chilling, dark and immersive, I raced through Mere. I loved the originality of the story and the brave and unexpected use of language. Such a treat of a novel (Rosanna Pike, bestselling author of A Little Trickerie)

Mere is a deftly written, stirring debut novel and a folk tale I'd yearn to hear around a campfire. Haunting and beautiful, it is a deeply affecting read that will stay with me for a long time to come. Even in Mere's brutality, there is a rare tenderness to be found (Lucy Rose, bestselling author of The Lamb)

This is an artful and atmospheric novel that reveals uncomfortable truths about the way we lived then and, for the thoughtful, the way we live now (Annie Garthwaite, author of Cecily)