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Content snapshot
Flag an inaccuracy →What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.
Violence
A lot
Violence including grave robbing, death from cholera, and murder
Language
Some
Period strong language
Sexual Content
A lot
Sexual content; the protagonist is a teenage prostitute
Substance Use
Barely any
Gin and period substance use
Emotional Intensity
Some
Themes of poverty, the exploitation of the poor by the powerful, and the cost of survival
What this book is about
Gustine is a teenage prostitute in Sunderland, England, wearing a beautiful blue dress she must return spotless each morning. She becomes entangled with a surgeon who secretly pays to dig up fresh graves for anatomical study — and with the cholera epidemic that is killing the city. Holman's dark Victorian novel is atmospheric and historically rich.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Teenage prostitute protagonist
Graphic cholera deaths
Body snatching/grave robbery
Historical violence
Reader Verification
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