Jacey Bedford's Journal

I read this in paper format so this is a second visit via audiobook

This is the third Sally Lockhart book following on from Ruby and the Smoke and The Shadow in the North,  and followed by The Tin Princess. I read all four a long time ago, and I confess I prefer them to Pullman;s Dark Materials books. Set in the Victorian period they all feature Sally, an independent young woman with (by the third book) an illegitimate child, Harriet. Sally's in business as a financial advisor and she's doing well. She lives with her friend, Jim, and Webster Garland, uncle of her dead lover. But this story kicks off while Jim and Webster are out of the country.

Sally receives a writ for divorce from a man called Parrish, someone she's never heard of and certainly someone she never married. She discovers a falsified marriage record and when it comes to court her lawyer lets her down badly. Parrish is confirmed as her legitimate husband which gives him access to all her possessions and - more importantly - he's awarded custody of Harriet. Desperate, Sally and Harriet go on the run. This is all tied up with London's criminal underworld and the East End Jewish community, mostly new immigrants fleeing the pogroms in Russia and exceedingly vulnerable to con-men and crooks. Sally receives unexpected help from Goldberg a Jewish philosopher/organiser and fully committed Socialist. The one thing she can't work out is why Parrish is lying about the false marriage, but there's a man behind it all - a man both Sally and Goldberg need to catch.

The story is tense and exciting, and the audiobook is read beautifully by Anton Lesser who really brings the story to life. I'll certainly be watching for more books read by him.