I liked Hester, who originally came from a reasonably well-off family and was educated. She grew up in a parsonage in Lincolnshire but she was orphaned at the age of 12 and went to live in London with Jacob, formerly her father’s gardener, and his wife Meg in a slum dwelling, just one room with a brick and dirt floor. It’s narrated in the present tense by Hester White, a young woman of eighteen. It begins well, setting the scene with detailed descriptive writing full of vivid imagery, evoking the sights, smells, and sounds of life in the darkest and foulest corners of London in the 1830s. So, you know straight away that this is a tale of wickedness and evil. The opening chapter sets the scene as The Morning Herald reports on the growing numbers of missing people in London in September 1831. The title of this book comes from Proverbs XVIII, 3: When the wicked cometh, then cometh also contempt, and with ignominy reproach. The Wicked Cometh is Laura Carlin’s debut novel. Review copy from the publishers, via NetGalley Publication date 1 February 2018, Hodder and Stoughton ‘We have no need to protect ourselves from the bad sort
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