The House with Nine Locks
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  • Published: 23 February 2025
  • ISBN: 9781787304420
  • Imprint: Harvill Secker
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 416
  • RRP: $55.00
Categories:

The House with Nine Locks

Formats & editions
Tr. Paperback
6 May 2025
EBook
23 Jan 2025
Audiobook
23 Jan 2025
Hardback
23 Feb 2025
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1950s Flanders: A master forger transforms a young woman's life, but will the price be too high? Combining the cinematic allure of The Queen's Gambit with the seductive intrigue of Jessie Burton's The Muse, The House with Nine Locks is a compelling and sweeping historical novel with characters you won't soon forget.

A master forger. A hidden fortune. A dangerous game of cat and mouse...

In post-war Flanders, Adelais de Wolf's family is slowly, inexplicably, falling apart: her mother evermore lost to religious devotion, her father to alcohol. But with the death of a beloved uncle, Adelais finds herself in receipt of an unexpected legacy: a shuttered house in a rundown district and its contents – contents that hold the promise of independence and wealth. All that is required is application, nerve, and a willingness to break the law.

Adelais stifles her doubts and her fortunes are transformed. But with her rise comes complications: her victimless crimes may not be as victimless as she supposed. Nor has she counted on the singular fanaticism of Major de Smet of the Federal Gendarmerie, a brutal detective who never forgives and never forgets.

Embroiled in a game that has gone on too long, will Adelais find the cost of her fortunes too high?
  • Published: 23 February 2025
  • ISBN: 9781787304420
  • Imprint: Harvill Secker
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 416
  • RRP: $55.00
Categories:

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Praise for The House with Nine Locks

A riveting detective story that turns the genre on its head. Gray captures the complexity of postwar Belgium with empathy and ruthless precision. And he gives us an unforgettable heroine to root for at the heart of his superbly crafted novel

Alice Austen, author of 33 PLACE BRUGMANN

In Two Storm Wood Philip Gray brought the scarred post-Great-War battlefields of France to life; in The House with Nine Locks he moves to a grimy post-Second-World-War Flanders. Adelais de Wolf reinvents herself at the glamorous heart of society by embracing life at its murky edges. A page-turner: morally complex and beautifully written.

Leonora Nattrass, bestselling author of BLUE WATER

Adelais is a tremendous central character ... Beautifully realised ... Enchanting ... Has [the] power to compel and intrigue

Time & Leisure

'This intriguing, pacy novel contains a host of memorable characters [and a] magical evocation of place … Adelais de Wolf, a heroine worthy of the name … makes fantasy into a reality and captures everyone’s heart, the reader’s included'

Virginia Baily, author of EARLY ONE MORNING

A wonderfully original and atmospheric crime novel… [a] beautifully modulated tale of forgery, gambling, ballroom dancing and star-crossed love

Mail on Sunday

A captivating read

Woman's Own

This is a book that will keep you reading well into the night

RTÉ Radio

Adelais is a tremendous central character ... Beautifully realised ... Enchanting ... Has [the] power to compel and intrigue

Time & Leisure