AGE OF MONSTERS

This historical novel is set in Victorian London. It tells the story of a mixed race heroine playing the role of an exotic freak on the London stage. She is caught in a reckoning with her own identity, when another Black woman goes missing from the sideshow. Upmarket gripping historical fiction with a pageturning plot.

In Victorian England, Black and British Zillah earns a living in a theatre, where she is a 'gaffed freak' someone who fakes their act headlining as 'The Great Amazonia', to the intrigue and fear of audiences. If her real identity is discovered the show could close, and she would find herself thrown in prison. Her one protection is a wealthy white admirer, who struggles with his own relationship to the recently abolished slave trade. However, she knows that she cannot hope for him to marry her, and as she grows older her position will become ever more precarious. When the owner of the sideshow reveals his new act a Black woman with vitiligo, to be exhibited as a 'Leopard Lady' Zillah finds herself forced to confront the dark side of her performance. And when the woman goes missing, Zillah sets out to find her. But her search finds her caught between both sides of her identity, and between two men: her rich white admirer, and an African merchant who is appalled at how she debases herself onstage. From the glittering heights of the Drury Lane stage, to the seedy underbelly of the docks, Zillah must risk everything to save the woman and in doing so, might just save herself.

Age of Monsters is novel for anyone who ever felt conflicted about their heritage or compelled to perform their identity. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement it provides a timely reminder of London's multicultural past, paying tribute to a diverse cast of characters.

In 2018 Lianne graduated from Royal Holloway's MA in Creative Writing with distinction and last year, she won a place on the London Library Emerging Writers Programme. Most recently she was awarded a bursary place for underrepresented writers on the Jericho Writers Self-Editing course. She also holds an MA in Victorian Studies and her love for the period shines through her writing. She currently lives in London, where she works for the government on growing diversity within the Civil Service.