The Prendergast Watch (Victorian Mysteries)

London 1888.

Bartholomew Grouse, an impoverished gentleman, takes shelter inside The Prendergast Emporium during a storm.

He spends the last of his rent money on an antique pocket watch - and encounters the beautiful but troubled Jemima Prendergast.

The family intrigues him. As Bartholomew attempts to unravel the secrets of the Prendergasts, he is drawn further into the shadows of Victorian London.

Deception, forgery, blackmail, death threats and a hidden past of his own threaten to overwhelm him.

As Bartholemew becomes embroiled in dark undertakings and his debts increase, only his growing regard for Jemima, a somnambulist who has lived within the walls of the emporium her whole life, gives him hope.

With Bartholomew’s support, Jemima must face a world she has been taught to fear, confronting the truth about her own family history and Jasper, her deceitful uncle, who has led her to become a recluse.

Bound together by a painting, a suffragette and the regulars at The Old Cock, Bartholomew and Jemima continue to grow closer and Bartholomew is forced to confront the man he has become, and the man he wants to be.

Can Jemima Prendergast free Bartholomew from his past, and, at the same time, liberate herself?

Emma Woodhouse previously worked as a Victorian demonstrator. She lives in the UK.