Paris, 1792. The city is gripped by revolution and the gutters run with blood as thousands lose their heads to the guillotine.
Edward Savill, a London merchant, receives word that his estranged wife has been killed in France. Her ten-year-old son, Charles, has been taken by ├йmigr├й refugees to Charnwood Court, deep in the English countryside.
Savill is sent to fetch Charles, only to discover the child is mute. The boy has witnessed unimaginable horrors, but a terrible secret keeps him from saying a word. Locked in a prison of his own mind, his silence is the only thing that will keep him safe.
Or so he thinks ...
Andrew Taylor is the multiple award-winning author of The American Boy, his No. 1 bestselling historical novel which was a 2005 Richard & Judy Book Club choice. He has won many awards, including the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger, an Edgar Scroll from the Mystery Writers of America, the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Award (the only author to win it three times) and the CWAтАЩs prestigious Diamond Dagger, awarded for sustained excellence in crime writing.