The Chocolate Maker's Wife

A tale of cruelty, revenge, redemption, love and hope, and the sweet, sinister temptation of chocolate.

Damnation has never been so sweet...

When Rosamund Tomkins enters the world she is so different, with her darkling eyes and strange laughter, that the midwives are afraid, believing her a changeling. But Rosamund's life is set to be anything but enchanted.

Born into poverty, brutalised and ignored by her family, it is only when she is married off to a nobleman that her life undergoes a wondrous transformation. Clever, quick and irrepressible, Rosamund soon becomes the darling of the haut ton, and presides over her luxurious chocolate house where the rich go to be seen and indulge in their favourite pastime, drinking the sweet and heady drink to which they've become oddly addicted.

But in the shadows, a web of conspiracy is spinning. The return of a man from the past brings Rosamund into mortal peril and up to the brink of destruction. As she fights for her life and those she loves through the ravages of the Plague and London's Great Fire, Rosamund begins to realise she will be forced to make a choice: walk away from all she knows and has grown to love with her soul intact, or make a deal with the devil...

Australian author Karen Brooks rewrites women back into history with this sweeping, breathtakingly researched tale of 17th century London, set against the backdrop of Restoration London, the plague and the Great Fire.

PRAISE

'Historian and novelist Brooks shows her research and imaginative chops in a luscious and astonishingly affecting chronicle of family scandal, political unrest, and redemptive hope in 1660s London.' - Publishers Weekly

'Brooks masterfully deploys surprising plot twists, deftly pacing the opening of closets to reveal hidden diaries and family skeletons... A charming and smart historical novel from a master storyteller.' - Kirkus Reviews

'Sensual, seductive, bold... A rich indulgence.' - Booklist

'The latest from Australian author Brooks is an excellent option for reading groups that enjoy multigenerational tales and historical fiction... Your late middle English vocabulary will be sumptuously rewarded.' - Library Journal