Caitlin Davies

Tricia Levenseller

“They’ve never found the body of the first and only boy who broke my heart. And they never will.”

Alessandra is tired of being overlooked, but she has a plan to gain power:
1) Woo the Shadow King.
2) Marry him.
3) Kill him and take his kingdom for herself.

No one knows the extent of the freshly crowned Shadow King’s power. Some say he can command the shadows that swirl around him to do his bidding. Others say they speak to him, whispering the thoughts of his enemies. Regardless, Alessandra knows what she deserves, and she’s going to do everything within her power to get it.

But Alessandra’s not the only one trying to kill the king. As attempts on his life are made, she finds herself trying to keep him alive long enough for him to make her his queen—all while struggling not to lose her heart. After all, who better for a Shadow King than a cunning, villainous queen?

The Shadows Between Us

'Davies's absorbing study serves up just enough sensationalism - and eccentricity - along with its serious inquiry' SUNDAY TIMES 'Insightful and thought-provoking and makes for a ripping good read' JEREMY CORBYN Society has never known what to do with its rebellious women. Those who defied expectations about feminine behaviour have long been considered dangerous and unnatural, and ever since the Victorian era they have been removed from public view, locked up and often forgotten about. Many of these women ended up at HM Prison Holloway, the self-proclaimed 'terror to evil-doers' which, until its closure in 2016, was western Europe's largest women's prison. First built in 1852 as a House of Correction, Holloway's women have come from all corners of the UK - whether a patriot from Scotland, a suffragette from Huddersfield, or a spy from the Isle of Wight - and from all walks of life - socialites and prostitutes, sporting stars and nightclub queens, refugees and freedom fighters. They were imprisoned for treason and murder, for begging, performing abortions and stealing clothing coupons, for masquerading as men, running brothels and attempting suicide. In Bad Girls, Caitlin Davies tells their stories and shows how women have been treated in our justice system over more than a century, what crimes - real or imagined - they committed, who found them guilty and why. It is a story of victimization and resistance; of oppression and bravery. From the women who escaped the hangman's noose - and those who didn't - to those who escaped Holloway altogether, Bad Girls is a fascinating look at how disobedient and defiant women changed not only the prison service, but the course of history.

A History of Rebels and Renegades

Bad Girls

P. C. Cast

Kristin Cast

Library Edition

Revealed

Hidden

A Journey into the Lives of Female Crooks

Queens of the Underworld

Four friends as close as sisters - and a secret that could tear them apart.

Friends Like Us

Set against the lush, wild landscape of northern Botswana, BLACK MULBERRIES is the unforgettable tale of two feuding families whose destinies are intertwined. Four women take turns to tell their story. NANTHEWA - the matriarch who strives to raise her son and daughter to live the lives she's planned for them - despite what they might want for themselves. KAZI - Nanthewa's beautiful, wilful daughter who defies her mother to follow her lover abroad. But England is not the promised land, and Kazi's life will follow a very different path to the one she had imagined. PETRA - the tomboy who harbours a secret passion for Kazi's brother, Isaac. Now a successful journalist, she's returned to Botswana to uncover the truth about a story no one wants revealed. And CANDY - Nanthewa's troubled granddaughter, who sees and understands more than anyone knows. Over the course of sixty years, through journeys and homecomings, passion and heartbreak, tensions and misunderstandings, the two families' enthralling stories gradually unfold.

Black Mulberries

Robin Hood, Dick Turpin, Ronnie Biggs, the Krays ... All have become folk heroes, glamorised and romanticised, even when they killed. But where are their female equivalents? Where are the street robbers, gang leaders, diamond thieves, gold smugglers and bank robbers? Queens of the Underworld reveals the incredible story of female crooks from the seventeenth century to the present. From Moll Cutpurse to the Black Boy Alley Ladies, from jewel thief Emily Lawrence to bandit leader Elsie Carey and burglar Zoe Progl, these were charismatic women at the top of their game. But female criminals have long been dismissed as either not ‘real women’ or not ‘real criminals’, and in the process their stories have been lost. Caitlin Davies unravels the myths, confronts the lies, and tracks down modern-day descendants in order to tell the truth about their lives for the first time.

In a small Kent town in the 1950s, a bewildered little girl is growing up. Ostracised because of her colour, she tries her best to fit in, but nobody wants anything to do with her. A nanny climbs the steps of a smart London address. She's convinced that her connection to the family behind the door is more than professional.

Family Likeness

1989. At the end of an idyllic summer holiday, four teenage girls swear to be 'blood sisters', sticking with one another through thick and thin, sharing their secrets come what may. 2005. The four friends' lives have followed very different paths. Single mother-of-two Loreenis struggling to make ends meet, endlessly searching for love via the internet. Just back from California, Karen can finally introduce her friends to her long-term lover. Belhas embarked on a controversial new career as a paparazzi, anxious to make her way in a tough man's world. And Ashley has not been in touch. Just why is she keeping so quiet about her new boyfriend? Despite their pledge, all four women have been keeping secrets from one another. Secrets that finally burst into the open - with surprising and shocking results.

A unique piece of London, cradle of design talent, heartland of the capital’s music scene, multicultural melting pot, Camden Lock is the world’s most famous market. The Lock started life as a collection of craft units housed in Victorian horse stables in a run-down timber wharf on the banks of the Regent’s Canal. Today an industrial dead zone has been transformed into London’s second most popular free attraction after the British Museum. The story of Camden Lock is one of dereliction and rejuvenation. Careers have started – and ended – at the Lock. Fortunes have been made, and lost, overnight. Craftspeople have become internationally known artists. Struggling stallholders have built up fashion empires. Caitlin Davies tells all these stories and more in an illustrated history full of personal memories and previously unpublished archive images.

Camden Market

The first time Annie Sweet sees 43 Stanley Road, the house is so perfect she almost feels as though it has chosen her. But with her husband seeming more distant, and her daughter wrapped up in her friends and new school, Annie is increasingly left alone to mull over the past. She soon becomes consumed by the house and everyone who has lived there before her, especially a young music hall singer called Lily Painter, whose sparkling performances were the talk of London. As Annie delves further into the past she unravels the case of two notorious baby farmers, who cruelly preyed on vulnerable unmarried mothers. And until she solves the mystery at the heart of the scandal, the ghost of Lily Painter will never be able to rest. Basing her story on true events, Caitlin Davies skilfully blends fact and fiction to bring to life part of our sinister past. Spanning an entire century, from the journals of an Edwardian police inspector to a doomed wartime love affair, The Ghost of Lily Painter is a gripping and poignant novel.

The Ghost of Lily Painter

Stretching 215 miles from its source in Gloucestershire, through England's capital and across to the North Sea, the River Thames has always enticed swimmers. From bathing kings to splashing school children, intrepid wild swimmers to international athletes, this famous river has long been a favourite. But it was the Victorian era that saw the birth of organised river racing with the launch of the long distance amateur championship of Great Britain. Soon floating baths were built in London; people swam at official bathing pools and islands at Oxford, Reading and Henley, dived off pontoons at Kingston and played at temporary lidos in Richmond. By the 1930s the Thames had become a top holiday spot for families with beaches at the Tower of London, Greenwich and Grays. Then in 1957 the river was declared biologically dead, organised racing was largely over, and swimming in the Thames was seen as dangerous. Yet today we have returned to the river in numbers not seen for a long time, some drawn by the thrill of wild swimming, others to compete in annual racing events. Now Caitlin Davies recounts the history of swimmers and the Thames, telling the stories of legends like Annette Kellerman and Matthew Webb, forgotten champions such as Agnes Beckwith and Lily Smith, as well as modern day charity swimmers and sport stars. Downstream explores the changing nature of swimmers' relationship with the river, featuring previously unpublished archive images, and asks why it is that swimmers still love the Thames.

A History and Celebration of Swimming the River Thames

Downstream

Summer 1867: four-year-old Daisy Belle is about to make her debut at the Lambeth Baths in London. Her father, swimming professor Jeffrey Belle, is introducing his Family of Frogs - and Daisy is the star attraction. By the end of that day, she has only one ambition in life: she will be the greatest female swimmer in the world. She will race down the Thames, float in a whale tank, and challenge a man to a 70-foot high dive. And then she will set sail for America to swim across New York Harbour. But Victorian women weren't supposed to swim, and Daisy Belle will have to fight every stroke of the way if she wants her dreams to come true. Inspired by the careers of Victorian champions Agnes Beckwith and Annie Luker, Daisy Belle is a story of courage and survival and a tribute to the swimmers of yesteryear. ‘An incredibly evocative read. Daisy is a character that you cannot help but like’ –ShortBookandScribes ‘A love letter to a forgotten golden age of swimming... To read Davies' descriptions of water and its locations is transportive’ – The Outdoor Swimming Society ‘Daisy Belle highlights the histories and achievements of Victorian athletic lady-swimmers .. and reflects upon the history of swimming in London’ – Camden New Journal

Swimming Champion of the World

Daisy Belle

Ruth Corney

Taking the Waters is a celebration of four unique swimming spots on Hampstead Heath: the Kenwood Ladies’ Pond, the Highgate Men’s Pond, the Mixed Bathing Pond, and the Parliament Hill Lido. People have swum at the ponds for over 200 years – from champion swimmers and world famous divers, to international film stars and hardy year round bathers – while the Lido is one of London’s few remaining outdoor pools. Together they attract over a quarter of a million visits a year. How and why did they come to be and what stories do they have to tell? This book is an illustrated history full of personal memories, archive images and stunning modern photography.

Caitlin Davies

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