ISBN Melmoth book Paperback 288 pages

OBSERVER BEST FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2018SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2019 DYLAN THOMAS PRIZEOh friend, take my hand - I've been so lonely!One winter night in Prague, Helen Franklin encounters her friend Karel, half-mad with fear.He has come into possession of a mysterious old manuscript, filled with testimonies that speak to Helen from 17th-century England, wartime Czechoslovakia, the sweat-soaked streets of Manila and 1920's Turkey. All of them tell of being followed by a tall, silent woman in black, bearing a terrible message.Helen reads its contents with intrigue, but everything in her life is about to change.

Sarah Perry is the author of The Essex Serpent and After Me Comes the Flood. She has been the UNESCO City of Literature writer-in-residence in Prague and a Gladstone's Library writer-in-residence. Her work has been translated into twenty languages.