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br> London, 1885:
Cora Burns has always struggled to control the violence inside of her. Does this temperament come from the mother she never knew, a convict who gave birth to her in jail? Or is Cora a product of her harsh upbringing in the workhouse, where her only light was a girl named Alice Salt, so like Cora that they were almost sisters.
Just released from Birmingham Gaol, Cora sets out to find Alice. But her memories of Alice are hazy, entangled with the memories of a terrible crime: the murder of a little boy in the workhouse. Her sole clue is a bronze medal cut in half, engraved with the word SALT.
Cora finds work as a servant in the home of Thomas Jerwood, a gentleman-scientist obsessed with the study of hereditary criminality. Here Cora befriends a young girl, Violet, who seems to be the subject of a living experiment into upbringing and character. But are there two identical girls called Violet? And is Jerwood also secretly studying Cora? As the secrets of her past unravel, Cora must decide if her own scarred nature is an unalterable product of biology or if she has the strength to change.
With the power and intrigue of Emma Donoghue’s The Wonder and Sarah Schmidt’s See What I Have Done, Carolyn Kirby’s debut novel delves into Victorian London’s dark underbelly and the question of where we first learn violence: from our scars or from our hearts.
-Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You and Is This Tomorrow
"[A] multilayered narrative of grim coincidence, origin mysteries, and severed pairs...the language is atmospheric and perfectly pitched, and the dialogue is spare and evocative. An ambitious effort that...will keep readers riveted."
--Kirkus Reviews
"A gothic feel, with a strong heroine uncovering secrets from her past...A gripping story, a haunting and original debut and full of period detail. Cora is a sympathetic and feisty character."
--NB Magazine
"Kirby is at her best in depicting Birmingham’s mean streets and in conveying Cora’s inner struggles."
--Publishers Weekly
"A dark Victorian novel about the complexities and motives of a violent young woman, sure to leave you grasping for answers...Carolyn Kirby lays the foundation of this novel brick by brick, building to conclusions that I suspected from the start and to some that were nowhere near what I was expecting....Cora proves to be an inspiring protagonist, stopping at nothing to discover her own truths and to build a better future despite her wild and questionable past."
--Independent Book Review
"The novel probes some of Victoriana’s darkest corners. Kirby uses the ties between early scientific and medical research, prisons, lunatic asylums, and workhouses to humanize the vulnerability of the poor, especially women and children. ... The Conviction of Cora Burns makes plain the frightening ease by which Victorian practices lay bare our own."
-Foreword Reviews
"Kirby’s unforgettable debut is a painstaking, kaleidoscopic, deeply unsettling, deeply thrilling, expansive, provocatively masterful novel that will transport you to Birmingham of the roaring Victorian 1880s and poke and prod your mind and heart with the branding iron that sears every sentence from beginning to unspeakable end."
—Charles Blackstone, author of Vintage Attraction
"With a sharp historical eye to the class conflicts, workhouse horrors, and sexual mores of Victorian England, Carolyn Kirby deftly renders the precarious lives of unmarried working-class mothers and the far-reaching consequences of moral choices driven by desperation. A poignant reflection on the possibility of personal redemption and the potential, within each person and society, to recognize and cherish human dignity and shed the injustices of the past."
-Alice Hatcher, author of The Wonder That Was Ours
"An astonishing debut novel--sumptuous in detail, original in structure, and, page by page, utterly compelling. Kirby is a born storyteller--a Charles Dickens for the 21st century--and her evocation of of the sources of evil, whether in us or in society, as shrewd and telling as her understanding of the mystery and depths of the human heart."
- Jay Neugeboren, author of Imagining Robert and The Stolen Jew
"Downton Abbey meets Elizabeth Gaskell."
-GJ Minett, author of Lie In Wait, The Hidden Legacy and Anything For Her
"A gripping historical thriller with a compelling protagonist. I loved the period detail and can't wait to read more from Carolyn Kirby."
- Sarah Ward, author of the DC Childs novels
"Unique and utterly engrossing."
-Emily Elgar, author of If You Knew Her
"An intriguing story of loss, doubleness, and sinister scientific experiment. Carolyn Kirby conjures up the nineteenth-century in a way that will surely satisfy all devotees of ‘Vic-lit’."
-Gaynor Arnold, author of The Girl In the Blue Dress
"In The Conviction of Cora Burns, Kirby tells a story reminiscent of the amazing Australian film Heavenly Creatures, a story that explores the power of friendship between two young girls who have been marginalized by society. When Cora's friend Alice Salt challenges their friendship by suggesting a moral compromise, Kirby negotiates this emotional challenge masterfully."
-Russell Rowland, author of Arbuckle