The Household

From the Sunday Times bestseller and winner of the Women's Prize Futures Award, the captivating, highly anticipated new novel, inspired by real historical figures and events.

In a quiet house in the countryside outside London, the finishing touches are being made to welcome a group of young women. The house and its location are top secret, its residents unknown to one another, but the girls have one thing in common: they are fallen. Offering refuge for prostitutes, petty thieves and the destitute, Urania Cottage is a second chance at life - but how badly do they want it?

Meanwhile, a few miles away in a Piccadilly mansion, millionairess Angela Burdett-Coutts, one of the benefactors of Urania Cottage, makes a discovery that leaves her reeling: her stalker of 10 years has been released from prison.

As the women's worlds collide in ways they could never have expected, they will discover that freedom always comes at a price.

The Household is the new novel from the award-winning, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Familiars, The Foundling and Mrs England. Set against Charles Dickens' home for fallen women and inspired by real figures from history, it is Stacey Halls' most ambitious and compelling novel yet.

Stacey Halls is a writer of great originality, great imagination and great sense of place. Atmospheric, intelligent, accessible, every novel is worth reading, then reading again and again. The new Hilary Mantel. Outstanding. Haunting, compelling, atmospheric. Utterly compelling. Menacing and marvellously written, this is hugely accomplished. Shimmers with menace... enticing and beautifully written. Jaw-droppingly brilliant. Exquisitely written, incredibly atmospheric, a masterclass in rising tension.