You are about to discover the secrets of The Quick - But first you must travel to Victorian Yorkshire, and there, on a remote country estate, meet a brother and sister alone in the world and bound by tragedy. In time, you will enter the rooms of London's mysterious Aegolius Club - a society of some of the richest, most powerful men in fin-de-siecle England. And at some point - we cannot say when - these worlds will collide. It is then, and only then, that a new world emerges, one of romance, adventure and the most delicious of horrors - and the secrets of The Quick are revealed.
A suspenseful, gloriously atmospheric first novel, and a feast of gothic storytelling that is impossible to resist. -- KATE ATKINSON
A sly and glittering addition to the literature of the macabre ... As soon as you have breathed with relief, much worse horrors begin. It's a skilled, assured performance, and it's hard to believe it is a first novel. -- HILARY MANTEL
A Gothic blockbuster. Independent Debut gothic mystery from a new British talent. -- Kate Figes Mail on Sunday
Richly immersive... The story twists from coming-of-age to night of the undead. -- Stacey Bartlett Bookseller
Author
About Lauren Owen
Lauren Owen is twenty-eight years old and grew up in the grounds of an old country house in Yorkshire. Her first attempts at writing as a teenager were Harry Potter fan fictions. She is a graduate of St Hilda's, Oxford, holds an MA in Victorian Literature, is completing a PhD on Gothic writing and fan culture, and is the recipient of the Curtis Brown Prize for best writer on the UEA creative-writing programme. The Quick is her first novel.