A case of knives - Candia McWilliam

Lucas Salik, eminent surgeon, is accustomed to performing bold experiments on other people's hearts. Many might think him cold-hearted, but Lucas is in love with Hal Darbo and sees his desperate, tenuous hold on him slipping away with Hal's intention to marry.

With his friend and confidante Anne Cowdenbeath, Lucas embarks on an experiment far odder than any that takes place in his working life. His subject is Cora, a young girl without family ties and ripe for emotional vivisection. But blood sports turn out to be more dangerous than anticipated and sinister happenings begin to disrupt the surgeon's tidy plan . . .

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