The Crimson Rooms

Evelyn is a young woman who has defied convention to become one of the country's first female lawyers. Living at home with her mother, aunt and grandmother, Evelyn is still haunted by the death of her younger brother James in the First World War. Therefore when the doorbell rings late one night and a woman appears, claiming to have mothered James' child, her world is turned upside down. Evelyn distrusts Meredith at first, but also finds that this new arrival challenges her work-obsessed lifestyle. So far her legal career has not set the world alight. But then a case arises that make Evelyn realise perhaps she can make a difference.

Stephen Wheeler, a former acquaintance of her boss - has been charged with murdering his own wife. It is clear to Evelyn that he is innocent but he won't talk. Meanwhile, Meredith makes an earth-shattering accusation about James. With the Wheeler case coming to a head and her heart in limbo, Evelyn takes matters into her own hands.

Short-listed for Brit Writers' Awards: Published Writer of the Year Awards 2010 (UK)

“One of those books so intensely alive in the past that it makes the world you actually live in feel flimsy and thin. McMahon combines a thriller writer's grip, pace and punch with the true novelist's depth and warmth of feeling.”

It is brilliant - intimidatingly good, I'd say. What [McMahon has] done is on a par with Sarah Waters - namely, writing satisfying and authentic historical fiction, but with literary excellence and sentence by sentence attention to detail. A triumph. - Kate Mosse.

Katharine McMahon is the author of six novels. She has taught in secondary schools, performed in local theatre and worked as a Royal Literary Fund fellow teaching writing skills at the Universities of Hertfordshire and Warwick. She lives in Hertfordshire.

Evelyn is a young woman who has defied convention to become one of the country's first female lawyers. Living at home with her mother, aunt and grandmother, Evelyn is still haunted by the death of her younger brother James in the First World War. Therefore when the doorbell rings late one night and a woman appears, claiming to have mothered James' child, her world is turned upside down. Evelyn distrusts Meredith at first, but also finds that this new arrival challenges her work-obsessed lifestyle. So far her legal career has not set the world alight. But then a case arises that make Evelyn realise perhaps she can make a difference.Stephen Wheeler, a former acquaintance of her boss - has been charged with murdering his own wife. It is clear to Evelyn that he is innocent but he won't talk. Meanwhile, Meredith makes an earth-shattering accusation about James. With the Wheeler case coming to a head and her heart in limbo, Evelyn takes matters into her own hands.

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