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The Wages of Sin

A compelling tale of medicine and murder in Victorian Edinburgh
  • Author
    • Kaite Welsh
Format
Regular price £10.99
Regular price Sale price £10.99
An irresistible mystery set in 1890s Edinburgh, Kaite Welsh's THE WAGES OF SIN features a female medical student-turned-detective, and will thrill fans of Sarah Waters and Antonia Hodgson.

Sarah Gilchrist has fled from London to Edinburgh in disgrace and is determined to become a doctor, despite the misgivings of her family and society. As part of the University of Edinburgh's first intake of female medical students, Sarah comes up against resistance from lecturers, her male contemporaries, and - perhaps worst of all - her fellow women, who will do anything to avoid being associated with a fallen woman...

When one of Sarah's patients turns up in the university dissecting room as a battered corpse, Sarah finds herself drawn into Edinburgh's dangerous underworld of bribery, brothels and body snatchers - and a confrontation with her own past.
  • Published: Jan 11 2018
  • 196 x 130mm
  • ISBN: 9781472239822

Not available for shipping to the following countries:

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Press Reviews

  • Library Journal, Debut of the Month
    The first book in what will, one hopes, be a long-running series, featuring a new kind of historical leading lady, Welsh's debut is an inspiring feminist tale perfect for the modern age
  • Catherine Hall, author of THE PROOF OF LOVE and DAYS OF GRACE

    I absolutely loved The Wages of Sin, and especially the funny, feisty Sarah Gilchrist, a Victorian feminist for modern times. Transported between the horrors of medical dissection rooms, the back streets of Edinburgh, opium dens and brothels, I was captivated, right to the very end
  • Kate Hamer

    A gripping story, a great central character and full of riotous, beautifully drawn period detail
  • Kirkus Reviews
    Welsh makes clever use of the conventions of the genre while throwing in a twist informed by modern sensibilities. Damp, sooty, moralistic, and sinning Edinburgh is convincingly evoked. A gritty detective story as unflinching as its heroine, rich in well-researched period detail
  • Fabulous Magazine
    Edinburgh is the superb gothic setting for this nail-biting debut
  • Sunday Express
    This powerful novel combines a disturbing look at late Victorian attitudes towards women and morality with a satisfying murder mystery
  • My Weekly Magazine
    Atmosphere, murder, a strong heroine, a flawed hero and a stunning twist - The Wages of Sin has it all. I hope we'll be reading more by Kaite Welsh. And I hope it will involve Sarah Gilchrist.
  • The Herald
    An enthrallingly gothic murder mystery
  • Daily Record
    A tremendous debut
  • Emerald Street
    A gripping story of murder, medicine and misogyny in Victorian Britain
  • Damian Barr

    Historical fiction doesn't get much more delicious or original