The Square of Sevens

‘My father had spelt it out to me. Choice was a luxury I couldn’t afford. This is your story, Red. You must tell it well . . .’

November, 1730. Red, the daughter of a Cornish fortune-teller, has been raised on the roads of Cornwall. She and her father travel from village to village, making a living through their craft, using the ancient Cornish method: the Square of Sevens. Faced with their fortunes, she says, people open up like books, and if you understand the language of souls, then you can read them. When her beloved father learns that he is dying, he befriends a gentleman scholar from Bath and offers him an ancient document containing the secret of the Square of Sevens, if he will agree to take Red into his care.

Raised as a lady amidst the Georgian splendour of Bath, Red’s fortunes are a delight in polite society. But she cannot ignore the questions that gnaw at her own soul: who was her mother? How did she die? Who are the enemies that her father always feared would find him? These mysteries take her from Bath to London, from the ribaldry of the Bartholomew Fair to the grand houses of two of the most powerful families in England. But others are embarked upon their own investigations, determined to locate the stolen secret of the Square of Sevens. Red’s quest attracts their notice, bringing her great danger but also the possibility of great reward . . . And so Red Antrobus tells her story . . .