Skip to product information
1 of 1

The Unseeing

A twisting tale of family secrets
  • Author
    • Anna Mazzola
Format
Regular price £9.99
Regular price Sale price £9.99
Set in London in 1837, Anna Mazzola's THE UNSEEING is the story of Sarah Gale, a seamstress and mother, sentenced to hang for her role in the murder of Hannah Brown on the eve of her wedding. Perfect for any reader of Sarah Waters or Antonia Hodgson.

'A twisting tale of family secrets and unacknowledged desires. Intricately plotted and extremely convincing in its evocation of the everyday realities of 1830s London, this is a fine first novel' - The Sunday Times


After Sarah petitions for mercy, Edmund Fleetwood is appointed to investigate and consider whether justice has been done. Idealistic, but struggling with his own demons, Edmund is determined to seek out the truth. Yet Sarah refuses to help him, neither lying nor adding anything to the evidence gathered in court. Edmund knows she's hiding something, but needs to discover just why she's maintaining her silence. For how can it be that someone would willingly go to their own death?
  • Published: Jan 26 2017
  • Pages: 384
  • 196 x 130mm
  • ISBN: 9781472234759

Not available for shipping to the following countries:

  • ASM
  • CAN
  • GUM
  • MNP
  • UMI
  • FSM
  • MHL
  • PHL
  • PRI
  • USA
  • VIR
View full details

Press Reviews

  • Heat
    [An] expertly crafted novel... Crammed with authentic descriptions and characters, and with a fascinating and compulsive plot, this is a thrilling debut
  • Manda Scott

    With this intricately woven tale of trust, self-trust and deceit, Anna Mazzola brings a gritty realism to Victorian London. Beautifully written and cleverly plotted, this is a stunning debut, ranked amongst the best
  • Janet Ellis, author of THE BUTCHER'S HOOK

    The Unseeing is deft, dark and delicious. Anna Mazzola writes brilliantly about Victorian London, a fascinating crime and an intriguing heroine
  • Woman & Home
    Tragic, terrifying and authentic
  • Historia
    Every now and then a debut novel comes along that stands out from the crowd... Mazzola's prose is wonderful and the characters are complex and convincing... If you like your historical crime beautifully written, intelligent and genuinely moving, this is one for you
  • Grazia
    The Unseeing engulfs you in a heady, addictive fog from the very start
  • Sun on Sunday, Fabulous Magazine
    A compelling did she/didn't she that's full of the sights and sounds of Victorian England, this is a winner
  • Daily Express
    [An] accomplished debut... Mazzola quickly draws the reader in to this intriguing mystery... Mazzola skilfully conjures up a bygone world... If you like historical fiction then you'll love this compelling murder mystery
  • Daily Mail
    An intriguing story, and the threat of a miscarriage of justice, as well as the frailties of an imperfect advocate, keep the suspense going
  • The Sunday Times
    A twisting tale of family secrets and unacknowledged desires. Intricately plotted and extremely convincing in its evocation of the everyday realities of 1830s London, this is a fine first novel
  • The Times
    [A] sizzling first novel...the characters - cleverly and sympathetically imagined - are the engine of the story
  • Sunday Mirror
    Set in a vividly-imagined Victorian London - from the seamy horrors of Newgate Gaol to the bloated inns of court - this is a wonderful combination of a thrilling mystery and a perfectly depicted period piece. A brilliant debut
  • Irish Independent
    I can't remember the last time a book gave me such pure, unalloyed pleasure... I can't imagine reading another new novel, and certainly not a debut, as thrilling and moving as this one for the rest of 2016
  • BBC History Magazine
    Intricately plotted and convincing in its portrait of the gritty, everyday realities of early Victorian London, The Unseeing makes for a darkly pleasurable read
  • Publisher's Weekly
    Love, corruption, and retribution define Mazzola's absorbing and unpredictable debut novel... a cleverly written and intricate mystery
  • Belfast Telegraph
    Mazzola's writing is brilliant