'The power that I have dreamed of all my life is mine at last!' How far is a mot
her prepared to go to secure her daughter's future? Madame Fontaine, widow of an
eminent chemist, has both the determination and the cunning to bring young Minn
a's marriage plans to fruition, with dangerous consequences for anyone who dares
to stand in her way. But has she met her match in Jack Straw, one-time inmate o
f Bedlam lunatic asylum? It will take a visit to the morgue to find out who triu
mphs - and who comes out alive. Reminiscent of Collins's blockbusters The Woman
in White and Armadale, this suspenseful case study in villainy is set against th
e financial world of 1820s Frankfurt and tells the story of two widows, one of t
hem devoted to realizing her husband's social reforms, the other equally devoted
to the pursuit of her daughter's happiness.
