Bellman & Black

A haunting Victorian ghost story of love, loss and the mystery of death from the bestselling author of THE THIRTEENTH TALE and ONCE UPON A RIVER'Fabulous' The Times'An extraordinary book that defies genre' Irish Independent'Dark, atmospheric...utterly riveting' Daily MailAs a boy, William Bellman commits one small cruel act that appears to have unforeseen and terrible consequences. The killing of a rook with his catapult is soon forgotten amidst the riot of boyhood games. And by the time he is grown, with a wife and children of his own, he seems indeed, to be a man blessed by fortune. Until tragedy strikes, and the stranger in black comes, and William Bellman starts to wonder if all his happiness is about to be eclipsed. Desperate to save the one precious thing he has left, he enters into a bargain. A rather strange bargain, with an even stranger partner, to found a decidedly macabre business. And Bellman & Black is born.***Praise for Diane Setterfield's dazzling storytelling:'Wonderful, lyrical, beautifully written...kept me gripped from the first to the last page''Beautifully imaged and poetic''A novel of rare power...an extraordinary writer''A superb novel. I couldn't put this book down from start to finish''Beautifully written, totally original and a compulsive page turner''A wonderful book and one I will read again''Dark, rich and gothic with a mysterious thread, I just wanted to read and read'