Sedition

Motherless Alathea Sawneyford, her charms grown disturbing as she rebels against her father, has made the city's streets her own, while Annie Cantabile is constrained, by her own disfigurement and her father, to his pianoforte workshop under the shadow of Tyburn gibbet. One afternoon the dusty workshop receives a visitor. A man, representing an unscrupulous band of City speculators, Alathea's father among them, require a pianoforte and its charming teacher to find titled husbands for all their daughters: sisters Evelina and Marianne; stolid Harriet and pale, pining Georgiana. It seems an innocent enough plan but these are subversive times and perhaps even a drawing-room piano lesson isn't exactly what it seems. All of which will suit Alathea perfectly.

Fierce and bawdy, uproarious and exquisite, SEDITION takes its plot at a racing gallop: bold, beautiful and captivating, it is a narrative masterpiece.

Long-listed for Desmond Elliott Prize 2014 (UK)

“Packed with colourful characters . . . this is an original, winningly imagined tale”

In its fairly irresistible combination of transgressive sex and a richly layered evocation of history, Sedition demands comparison with Sarah Waters' untouchably brilliant novels . . . a properly subversive and quite unforgettable novel - Guardian

- Daily Mail

A sly, witty, deliciously knowing treat . . . [a] fascinating debut - Metro

You will be seduced as surely as Katie Grant's young ladies in this masterpiece of salacious wit. THIS is one of those precious novels. The kind that bookworms burrow inside to devour with relish from cover to cover. The kind you'll secrete behind all the other books on your shelves in case friends steal it and somehow "forget" to give it back. The kind from which you'll read chosen snippets to your offspring when they're old enough. An induction into the magical unruliness of words. Not a dull or superfluous page - Scotland on Sunday

Katharine Grant was born into a family described by Lord Burghley, Treasurer to Elizabeth 1st, as of 'more than usual perversity' Her five times great uncle, Francis Towneley, was the last person in the UK to be hung drawn and quartered - for sedition.

Katharine grew up on the edge of the Lancashire moors with five sisters and one brother and, sometimes using family stories, has written nine novels for children and young adults. She has written regularly for most newspapers in Scotland and is currently the Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at the University of Glasgow. Sedition is her first novel for adults. She lives in Glasgow.

London 1794. Revolution creeps across the channel. Coffee-houses brew gossip. The city seethes with restless opportunists. Motherless Alathea Sawneyford, her charms grown disturbing as she rebels against her father, has made the city streets her own, while Annie Cantabile is constrained to her father's pianoforte workshop under the shadow of Tyburn gibbet. An aspiring man requires a pianoforte and a teacher to find titled husbands for his daughter and his friends' girls. It seems an innocent enough plan but these are subversive times . . . All of which will suit Alathea perfectly. 'Packed with colourful characters . . . an original, winningly imagined tale' Stephanie Cross, Daily Mail 'Original and dark . . . [Grant] writes with wit, verve and not a little mischief' Antonia Senior, The Times 'In its fairly irresistible combination of transgressive sex and a richly layered evocation of history, Sedition demands comparison with Sarah Waters' untouchably brilliant novels . . . unforgettable' Christobel Kent, Guardian 'A subversive and thrilling gothic tale, it will keep you up all night' Andrea Wulf, New York Times Book Review

Motherless Alathea Sawneyford, her charms grown disturbing as she rebels against her father, has made the city's streets her own, while Annie Cantabile is constrained, by her own disfigurement and her father, to his pianoforte workshop under the shadow of Tyburn gibbet. One afternoon the dusty workshop receives a visitor. A man, representing an unscrupulous band of City speculators, Alathea's father among them, require a pianoforte and its charming teacher to find titled husbands for all their daughters: sisters Evelina and Marianne; stolid Harriet and pale, pining Georgiana. It seems an innocent enough plan but these are subversive times and perhaps even a drawing-room piano lesson isn't exactly what it seems. All of which will suit Alathea perfectly.Fierce and bawdy, uproarious and exquisite, SEDITION takes its plot at a racing gallop: bold, beautiful and captivating, it is a narrative masterpiece.

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