The Lost Portrait

PRE-ORDER NOW - THE COMPELLING NEW NOVEL FROM THE AUTHOR OF DANGEROUS WOMEN 
 
Edinburgh, 1901. Artist Phoebe Carmichael is celebrating the completion of her life’s work: an astonishing series of murals in Mansfield Chapel, one of Edinburgh’s oldest churches. 
 
Midway through the celebrations, she makes a terrible discovery: a woman, seemingly possessed by blind rage, scratching out the faces of two girls whose portrait is nestled within the murals. 
 
The woman is a stranger to Phoebe – and her actions a mystery. Why would someone wish to destroy her art? And why this part of the masterpiece, the tiny likeness of two innocent girls?As Phoebe sets out to unearth the truth, she discovers a new art form: the extraordinary art of keeping secrets… 
 
PRAISE FOR HOPE ADAMS 
 
‘Beautifully written… unputdownable’ KATIE FFORDE 
 
‘A gorgeous and compelling story with vibrant characters’ RACHEL HORE 
 
‘Fascinating…Engrossing and deeply satisfying’ THE TIMES 
 
‘Masterful plotting… an immensely satisfying read’ GUARDIAN 
 
‘Terrific’ ELIZABETH BUCHAN 
 
‘A fine story of suspense, sisterhood and society’ DAILY MAIL

A fascinating prose patchwork of the women's lives, stitched together by a twisting murder mystery. Engrossing and deeply satisfying.

A fine story of suspense, sisterhood and society

A gorgeous and compelling story with vibrant characters

Beautifully written... an unputdownable read

Hope Adams was born in Jerusalem and spent her early childhood in many different countries, including Nigeria and British North Borneo. She now lives near Cambridge. She is the author of Dangerous Women, and has also written books for children and adults as Adèle Geras.

Edinburgh, 1901. Artist Phoebe Carmichael is celebrating the completion of her life’s work: an astonishing series of murals in Mansfield Chapel, one of Edinburgh’s oldest churches. 
Midway through the celebrations, she makes a terrible discovery: a woman, seemingly possessed by blind rage, scratching out the faces of two girls whose portrait is nestled within the murals. Why would this stranger wish to destroy her art? And why this part of the masterpiece, the tiny likeness of two innocent girls? As Phoebe sets out to unearth the truth, she discovers a new art form: the extraordinary art of keeping secrets…

Hope Adams

Beautifully written, Hope Adams has woven together an epic sea voyage with an intriguing murder mystery to make an unputdownable read

A gorgeous and compelling story with vibrant characters. I was fascinated by the novel's inspiration and the real life story of the Rajah Quilt

An intriguing murder-mystery, skilfully written and bursting with colour and life

A fabulous book with a fascinating premise. A murder mystery drives the story, but it's the characters who keep you entranced as, in the confined space of a long sea voyage, these feisty inventive women negotiate each other and their new world. I loved it

A fascinating prose patchwork of the women's lives, stitched together by a twisting murder mystery. Engrossing and deeply satisfying - over the course of the journey we learn about the desperate lives of these women, many guilty only of petty crimes

I so enjoyed this. It evokes an era when justice was cruel, but also how the creation of something like a quilt gave hope and substance to existence. A terrific read

Dazzling. Adams takes the fascination history of a convict ship and brings it to life in a captivating story filled with intrigue and dark secrets. An immensely satisfying tale of guilt, innocent and second chances

Well-written, engaging and thoroughly compelling. I love it when forgotten histories are brought to light, and touch the reader so that they immediately want to know more

A gripping exploration of female solidarity in a time of crisis and claustrophobia. Hope Adams sets the grubby injustices of a misogynistic legal system against the beauty of creating a work of art and, through that art, stitching together an unlikely community

Caroline Lea, author of The Glass Woman

Hope Adams has skilfully patched a murder mystery into a historical event . . . Masterful plotting, well-drawn characters, and a plausible balance of despair for what was left behind and optimism for what lies ahead add up to an immensely satisfying read

Adams disguises a social-history lesson on women's rights as a gripping period drama and we're here for it

A fabulous, page-turning novel that kept me gripped. Bringing together murder, convicts and patchwork quilting - all aboard a ship bound for Australia - it's impossible not to become engaged with these women and their individual plights - especially once everyone becomes a suspect

A ship of convict women - all with their secrets - on the way to a new life in a new land, but facing danger all the way - this is a locked room mystery to end all locked room mysteries!

A fine story of suspense, sisterhood and society, reflecting the harshness of women's lives and their desperation to survive in a world that has scant regard for their wellbeing

A page-turning murder mystery and a richly-drawn tale of women caught up in a male-dominated world, hoping for a better life. Descriptions of the poorer class of women in Victorian England are moving and evocative, the period details terrifically well-researched. I felt I was on that transport ship with those women, facing the storms and living their joys and sorrows

Combines historical fiction with tremendously gripping entertainment. Who on a ship of convicted women sailing from London to Tasmania is a murderer?

A truly engrossing historical 'locked room' thriller

A must-read for lovers of fearless historical fiction, and an examination of the shocking treatment of women in our not-too distant past

Nerves fray, alliances form, and love blooms in this fast paced, well-written novel. This is a great page-turner!

A historical episode artfully adapted in a tale that offers glimmers of hope for women discarded by society

Wonderful, evocative, moving and suspenseful

A vivid, cleverly-crafted mystery that will keep the reader turning the pages

bestselling author of Letters from the Past

It's a fantastically exciting story, and a wonderful novel. There is so much more going on, on the Rajah, in this unity of women, than a simple love story

Transforms an actual 19th-century sea voyage of female convicts into a striking drama. The ship's young matron chooses a group to sew a presentation quilt, but near their destination, someone stabs one of the quilters. Evocative sketches of those on board reveal the realities of poor women's lives - readers will be rewarded

A murder mystery with a great twist at the end . . . Gripping

Dangerous Women is a successful blend of two genres: a historical novel, inspired by real events, and a murder mystery with a great twist at the end. By the time I was halfway through I was completely gripped, and couldn't put it down

An enthralling narrative . . . lays bare the painful lives of these women, far from their homes and loved ones, and feeling the brutal weight of the law

This atmospheric narrative excels in its depiction of the relationship between female prisoners - largely petty criminals - and the tragic backstories that have brought them together

Packed with atmosphere . . . a terrific read

A very fine novel - and, like the quilt it celebrates, a work of love

Utterly compelling and as finely wrought as the patchwork quilt that inspired the story

Fascinating. Gives women without one a voice - a storming read

A compelling, immersive book that deftly weaves its beauty and pathos. I'm still thinking about it

An enthralling story, inspired by true events

A secret murder on a convict ship transporting women to Australia in 1841 . . . this is an intriguing story, with its root embedded in facts

Intriguing . . . [Hope Adams] can stitch a great story

In vivid detail, Hope Adams illuminates life in convict quarters on a stinking, storm-soaked ship, and delves into the lives of individual women and the small tragedies that have condemned them to be sent far away, with little hope of return

A well-paced page-turner illuminating a forgotten story that reminds us how far we have come

Pulls you into the heart of its story, while celebrating redemption, rehabilitation and the good in people. All set to the backdrop of a truly fascinating slice of history

Historical events and characters are cleverly blended into a thought-provoking tale

Adams disguises a social-history lesson on women's rights as a gripping period drama

The Compelling and Beautifully Written Mystery About Friendship, Secrets and Redemption

London, 1841. 
 
The Rajah sails for Australia. 
 
On board are 180 women convicted of petty crimes. 
 
Daughters, sisters, mothers - they'll never see home or family again. Despised and damned, they have only one another. 
 
Until the murder. 
 
As the fearful hunt for a killer begins, everyone on board is a suspect . . .

Hope Adams

Praise for Dangerous Women

Beautifully written, Hope Adams has woven together an epic sea voyage with an intriguing murder mystery to make an unputdownable read

A gorgeous and compelling story with vibrant characters. I was fascinated by the novel's inspiration and the real life story of the Rajah Quilt

An intriguing murder-mystery, skilfully written and bursting with colour and life

Beautifully written, Hope Adams has woven together an epic sea voyage with an intriguing murder mystery to make an unputdownable read

A gorgeous and compelling story with vibrant characters. I was fascinated by the novel's inspiration and the real life story of the Rajah Quilt

An intriguing murder-mystery, skilfully written and bursting with colour and life

Beautifully written, Hope Adams has woven together an epic sea voyage with an intriguing murder mystery to make an unputdownable read

A gorgeous and compelling story with vibrant characters. I was fascinated by the novel's inspiration and the real life story of the Rajah Quilt

An intriguing murder-mystery, skilfully written and bursting with colour and life

Books by Hope Adams

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