The Paris winter - Imogen Robertson

Imogen Robertson's break-out novel - a deep, dark and opulent tale of Belle poque Paris, and the secrets and dangers hidden beneath its luxurious facade.

Maud Heighton came to Lafond's famous Acadmie to paint, and to flee the constraints of her small English town. It took all her courage to escape, but Paris eats money. While her fellow students enjoy the dazzling joys of the Belle poque, Maud slips into poverty. Quietly starving, and dreading another cold Paris winter, Maud takes a job as companion to young, beautiful Sylvie Morel. But Sylvie has a secret: an addiction to opium. As Maud is drawn into the Morels' world of elegant luxury, their secrets become hers. Before the New Year arrives, a greater deception will plunge her into the darkness that waits beneath this glittering city of light.

Imogen Robertson grew up in Darlington, studied Russian and German at Cambridge, and now lives in London. She directed for TV, film and radio before becoming a full-time author, and also writes and reviews poetry. Imogen won the Telegraph's 'First thousand words of a novel competition' in 2007 with the opening of Instruments of Darkness, her first novel.

Want to know more? Visit www.imogenrobertson.com.

A charming, fast-paced thriller
People magazine

'Matchless storytelling, gripping and moving in equal measure. Addictive'
Nicci French

'Chillingly memorable...an extraordinary thriller'
Tess Gerritsen