BIRTHRIGHT

A sublime psychological thriller from Polari Prize-shortlisted author

Sixteen-year-old Fiona inhabits a privileged world of English affluence, though her relationship with her widowed mother is strained. When she discovers an old newspaper clipping of a woman and her daughter — the little girl a mirror image of her own younger self — she becomes convinced she has a true family elsewhere. Four years later, with the help of charming fraudster Patrick, Fiona drops everything to seek out her doppelgaenger in Italy.
Fiona arrives in Rome to find Maddy living hand to mouth with her alcoholic mother. Spooked by the appearance of this strange girl wearing her face and stalking her every move, Maddy wants nothing to do with her. Caught in a surreal push-and-pull, the two are both fascinated and repulsed by the oddly familiar other, each coveting a different life. But they aren't the only ones trying to control their fate, and the two women will soon learn that people aren't always what they seem — though blood may still prove thicker than water.

BIRTHRIGHT is a dark, gripping literary thriller for fans of Ian McEwan, Rupert Thomson and Edward St Aubyn. Also available: THE BONE FLOWER (Gallic, 2022), a deliciously chilling Gothic novel about guilt, betrayal, and the cruelty of social expectations. On a November evening in Victorian London, the moneyed but listless Edward Monteith stokes the fire at his local gentlemen's club, listening to stories of supernatural experiences and theories of life after death. His curiosity leads him to a séance, where he falls under the spell of a beautiful flower seller. But Victorian society does not look kindly on love between a gentleman of means and a Romani girl, and when he faces being cut off by his family, Edward makes a decision with horrifying consequences...

‘A dark, beautiful beast of a book, tender and harrowing, full of cruelties and redemptions, ghosts and orange trees, London in filth and luxury.' — Edward Carey

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born in England, Charles lives in Fondi, near Rome, where he worked for many years as a university teacher. In addition to his novels, he is a prizewinning writer of short fiction. His work is included in THE BEST OF BRITISH SHORT STORIES 2013 (Salt) and he has won an O. Henry Award and other short story prizes.