A powerful and gripping historical thriller for fans of The Essex Serpernt and The Miniaturist. Rebecca Stott is also the winner of the 2017 Costa Award for biography.

'Original and evocative ... a mesmerising thriller' Daily Telegraph
'Full of twists and turns' Scotsman
'An enthralling exploration of revolutionary science in post-revolutionary France' Guardian
'A book of penetrating humanity and a vivid evocation of Paris' Financial Times

Paris, 1815. Daniel Connor, a young medical student from Edinburgh, has just arrived in Paris to study anatomy at the Jardin des Plantes - only to realise that his letters of introduction and a gift of precious coral specimens, on which his tenure depends, have been stolen by the beautiful woman with whom he shared a stagecoach.

In the fervour and tumult of post revolutionary Paris, nothing is quite as it seems. In trying to recover his lost valuables, Daniel discovers that his beautiful adversary is in fact a philosopher-thief who lives in a shadowy world of outlaws and émigrés. As Daniel embark on a passionate love affair with the Coral Thief, he is drawn to join her salon of thieves to execute one last breathtakingly bold robbery...

It's been awhile since I have found myself pulled into a story the way I was with this book. I really enjoyed the setting of the early 1800's Paris and the naturalist studies of the main character. The police officer bent on catching the notorious thiefs that Daniel falls in with very much reminded me of Javert in Les Miserables.

This was pulled from my TBR pile. I'm pretty sure I bought this as a discount book from Daedelas books years ago with the thought of sharing it with my father. It seems the type of book he would have enjoyed, and I wish I had read it before he passed away.

Left in the little free library.